Indonesia Humanitarian Background

Indonesia is one of the world's most susceptible nations to natural disasters, with more than 600,000 people a year suffering from their consequences (2009 UN Global Assessment on Disaster Risk Reduction). In the first quarter of 2011 alone, Indonesia experienced 67 significant earthquakes (5.0 magnitude or higher). Volcanic eruptions, flooding, landslides and tsunamis are continual threats. Disaster resilience and management is therefore a top agenda item for the Government of Indonesia and its international partners, including the UN.  (Source: UNPDF Website http://www.un.or.id)

[1] UNPDF Website http://www.un.or.id

[1] Further information can be found in regards to the UN contingency plans for Avian Flu at - http://www.who.int/hac/crises/idn/en/  or   http://www.who.int/csr/don/archive/country/idn/en/

For more detailed database on disasters by country, please see the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters:

http://www.emdat.be/country-profile

Further information in regards to disasters and preparedness measures that are being undertaken by the Indonesian Government can be found at the following BNPB related websites:

• BNPB Geospatial : http://geospasial.bnpb.go.id - This website functioned as a map distribution center created and updated by Data and Information Center and Public Relations BNPB.

• BNPB Disaster Events’ Data and Information (DIBI) : http://dibi.bnpb.go.id - DIBI supports BNPB in terms of improving disaster response capabilities both at central and provincial levels.

• BNPB Geographic Information System (GIS) : http://geospasial.bnpb.go.id/web-gis

• Disaster Monitoring : http://geospasial.bnpb.go.id/web-gis/pantauan-bencana

• Interactive Preparedness Maps : http://geospasial.bnpb.go.id/mapprb

• Interactive Disaster Response Maps : http://geospasial.bnpb.go.id/maptd

Calamities and Seasonal Affects

Capacity and Contacts for In-Country Emergency Response

Government

Disaster Risk Management is a Government of Indonesia priority, as reflected in the Disaster Management Laws issued in 2007, 2008 and 2010, the Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN 2010-2014), the National action plan for disaster risk reduction 2010-2012 and most recently, the President’s Master Plan for Tsunami Risk Reduction (2013-2019, BNPB 2012).
The Government has significantly strengthened the framework for disaster prevention, preparedness and response by:

• Establishing the National Disaster Management System (law 24, 2007);

• Forming the National Disaster Management Board (BNPB, Presidential Regulation No.8, 2008);

• Regulating the acceptance of international assistance (law 22, 2010);

• Focusing on enhancing its capacity, and that of local communities, to mitigate risks and to handle forest fires and other hazards;

• Creation of a rapid action team for handling natural disasters;

• By Strengthening the Tsunami Early Warning System and the Weather Early Warning System.

The Indonesian Government has realized the importance of a disaster management system to anticipate and respond to disasters. The aim was to build a reliable system of disaster relief which may include several areas that must be strengthened up to the level of legislation, institutional, financing, planning, science and technology in the implementation of disaster management.
Development of a disaster management system is an ongoing activity that was strengthened by the passing of law number 24 in 2007 which documented the nation's commitment to Indonesia in protecting the citizens from disasters.
The Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB) was created and has the functions of coordinator and commander during emergency responses. BNPB is supported by ministers and other government authorities, meanwhile at local level it is supported by BPBD (Provincial Disaster Management Agency) and local government. Currently all BPBD Offices have been established in 33 provinces within Indonesia. National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) is a non-department governmental agency headed by a ministerial-level official. This institution is directly responsible to the President of Indonesia.

The mission of the BNPB is to:

• Protect the nation from disasters threats through risk reduction

• Establish a reliable disaster management system.

• Conduct a planned, integrated, coordinated and comprehensive disaster management response

In case of disasters the provincial level BPBD’s are responsible to respond. The governor should establish an Area Command centre (AC) and appoints a commander (often a person from TNI or BPBD). The AC establishes Incident Command centres (IC) per city (or district) affected, with a commander in charge (see figure National disaster management coordination structure). In case of a large disaster the governor requests national assistance from the BPBD. The BPBD then establishes a Multi-Agency Coordination Centre (MAC). In case the disaster impact exceeds the national capacity to respond, as per law 22, the Min. of Foreign Affairs requests International Assistance or issues a statement “that foreign assistance is welcomed”. BPBD reports to the President. The Governor reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs and this Ministry reports to the President as well.

For information on Indonesia government emergency response , please see the following:

National Disaster Management Coordination Staff Structure

National Disaster Management Coordination Structure

For information on Indonesia Government contact details, please see the following link:

4.2.1 Indonesia Government Contact List

4.2.2 Indonesia Humanitarian Contact Lists

Humanitarian Community

During a BNPB/OCHA workshop in February 2014 BNPB announced that it will adopt a national cluster system modelled on the IASC cluster system but adjusted to the national context.  Relevant ministries have been assigned as cluster leads. The TOR of each cluster, exact roles and responsibilities have not yet been finalized (as of March 2014).

WFP is global cluster lead for the IASC Logistics and Food security clusters. The Government of Indonesia creation of national clusters that relate to these sectors are the Economy cluster for food security, the Health cluster for nutrition, the Logistics cluster plus Structure and Infrastructure cluster for Logistics.  During the Mentawai Megathrust exercise (17-22 Mar 2014) it was evident that the logistics functions currently under Structure and Infrastructure, were in fact discussed and coordinated by the Logistics cluster.  There is no separate national food security & nutrition cluster. During disasters in Indonesia the Ministry of Social Affairs normally provides quickly adequate food rations from stock piles prepositioned in warehouses across the country. 

National cluster system (as of 26 Feb 2014)

- “Structure & Infrastructure” includes Telecommunication infrastructure, water & sanitation infrastructure, transport access and debris clearance.

UN Support for Disaster Management:

• The UN is playing a crucial role in the establishment and implementation of the Indonesia Multi Donor Fund Facility for Disaster Recovery (IMDFF-DR).

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) supports regular capacity development training sessions for staff of the national disaster management agency, BNPB.

• Logistics challenges can be a major obstacle to delivering a rapid and effective response to disasters. WFP works at the provincial levels in Aceh, Papua and NTT to build up the logistics capacity of the local authorities.

• UNDP works to make integrate disaster risk reduction (DRR) into the development programmes in Indonesia. The "Safer Communities for Disaster Risk Reduction" programme, in several regions, aims to ensure that development planning accounts for increased disaster risk.

For information on Indonesia Humanitarian contact details, please see the following link:

4.2.1 Indonesia Government Contact List

4.2.2 Indonesia Humanitarian Contact Lists

Indonesia Regulatory Departments

For information on Indonesia regulatory department contact details, please see the following link: 

4.1 Indonesia Government Contact List

The following agencies are involved in the regulatory framework in Indonesia :

Badan Pengawas Obat dan Makanam National (BPOM) National agency of food and drug control

The agency is responsible for the legislation, regulation and standardisation of food and pharmaceuticals in Indonesia. This includes pre-market evaluation of goods and post-marketing monitoring of product samples, production and distribution facilities. Additional responsibilities include public communication and education in cases where a public warning may be required.

Directorate of Social-Cultural Affairs and International Organizations of Developing Countries

The Directorate of Socio-cultural Affairs and International Organization of Developing Countries carries out duties regarding socio-cultural issues and international organizations of developing countries. This includes the registration of International Non-Government Organizations (INGO’s).

Directorate General for Post and Telecommunication

The Directorate General for Post and Telecommunication (Direktorat jenderal Pos dan Telekomunikasi) (http://kominfo.go.id) is part of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Departemen Komunikasi dan Informatika) and is the regulatory authority for telecommunications.

Ministry of Transportation

In Indonesia, civil aviation is placed under the management of the Directorate General Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Transportation. It is split into two directorates – Directorate of Air Transport and Directorate of Airports. The Ministry is also responsible for the management of the national road network. At a provincial level, roads are managed by the Department for Public Works.

Directorate of Customs and Excise

Direktorat Jenderal Bea dan Cukai is responsible for the implementation of customs and excise duty within Indonesia both via sea, land and air ports.

Directorate of Immigration

The Direktorat Jenderal Imigrasi is responsible for all immigration matters within Indonesia.

Ministry of Agriculture

The Ministry is responsible for all quarantine issues for cargo entering into Indonesia.

Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources

As part of the Ministry, the Badan Geologi via the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard mitigation has the responsibility to research, investigate (monitor, evaluate and report) and provide other services in the field of volcanology and geological disasters.
Meteorological, Climatology and Geo-Physical Agency
Badan Meteorology, Klimatologi, Dan Geofisika (BKMG) is responsible for the monitoring for meteorology, climatology, air quality and geophysics within Indonesia. The agency is also involved in the development of government policy in these areas and the transmission of data and information in regards to climate issues.

Central Bureau of Statistics

The Badan Pusat Statistik has responsibility for the provision of data requirements for the Indonesian government and wider society.

Ministry of Finance

As part of the Ministry of Finance, the Directorate General of Taxation (Direktorat Jenderal Pajak) is mandated to formulate and implement matters in regards to taxation within Indonesia.

Duties and Tax Exemption

For contact information regarding government custom authorities, please follow the link below: 

4.1 Indonesia Government Contact List

Indonesia is a member state of the World Customs Organization (WCO), having ratified the Convention establishing a Customs Co-operation Council on 30-Apr-1957. This Convention entered into force on 4th November 1952.

The only international body of Customs law that contains a specific chapter binding states to facilitate the work of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in implementing humanitarian assistance is the revised Kyoto Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures (with its Annex J-5 on the Special Procedure for Relief Material). Indonesia has not signed/ratified this Convention. They also have neither signed nor ratified the Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations.

In the event of an emergency, all humanitarian aid organizations must liaise with BNPB (National Agency for Disaster Management) for all topics including customs and excise, BNPB then will decide if any specific measures end exemption should apply.

Indonesia’s export import activities have an online system called Indonesia NSW, http://www.insw.go.id. The system enables trader to submit regulatory documents through the internet. This has resulted in the procedure to get license such as customs declarations, applications for import/export permits, and others from related Government of Agency (GOA) to be simplified.

Emergency Response:

[Note: This section contains information which is related and applicable to 'crisis' times. These instruments can be applied when an emergency is officially declared by the Government.  When this occurs, there is usually a streamlined process to import goods duty and tax free.]

In the following table, state which of the following agreements and conventions apply to the country and if there are any other existing ones

Exemption Regular Regime (Non-Emergency Response): 

[Note: This section should contain information on the usual duties & taxes exemption regime during non-emergency times, when there is no declared state of emergency and no streamlines process (e.g. regular importations/development/etc.).]

Any humanitarian organization is allowed to be operational in the country as long as they are registered and approved by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia. All organizations must follow the rules and regulations with no exceptions. All UN agencies and NGOs working in the country may obtain duty exemption on their humanitarian cargo, however the process will not necessarily be the same due to the individual agreements with the Government and whether the goods are arriving under normal country conditions or during emergency situation.

For humanitarian cargo, duty & tax exemptions are issued by the State Secretariat Office (Ministry of State Secretariat) on shipment-by-shipment basis after submitting a form called a “PP 19”. This PP19 form derives from Government Regulation No.19 which officially states that humanitarian aid can be imported into the country duty and tax free. Each organization must also have a local government counterpart who, in return, will facilitate the importation process of goods.

For commercial cargo, all goods are subject to duties and taxes and, if there is an exception to this rule, it must be obtained through Ministry of Finance.

Exemption Certificate Application Procedure: 

Exemption Certificate Document Requirements

Customs Clearance

General Information 

Customs Clearance Document Requirements