Government Need to Make Disaster-Damage Mitigation for Museum
- ANTARA/Humas JakFire
Jakarta – The Indonesian Archaeologists Association (IAAI) suggested that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) create museum disaster mitigation guidelines as a result of the recent fire at the National Museum.
"I emphasize that museums are important, this time how do we encourage the Government namely the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology to collaborate in preparing disaster mitigation in museums," said Dyah Chitaria Liestyati as Chairperson of IAAI in a Public Discussion on the Importance of Museums, in Jakarta, on Monday.
Liestyati revealed that the date of the fire at the National Museum was the same as the fire at the Maritime Museum in 2018.
"In 2018, the Maritime Museum experienced a fire on January 16. It turned out to be the same as at the National Museum on September 16, 2023. Both fires were caused by electrical short circuit," Liestyati remarked.
Furthermore, Gatot Ghautama as a Member of the Supervisory Board of IAAI Center said that museum disaster mitigation guidelines are needed to reduce its impact.
"We can only reduce the impact of disasters. The recent fire at the National Museum was the first in 161 years," Ghautama emphasized.
Indonesia, Ghautama continued, already has a mitigation system in place. It started with the Aceh Tsunami disaster in 2004, and in 2007, Law No. 24/2007 on disaster management was enacted.
As more information, the Ministry is working with the police and experts to continue addressing the impact of fire incident.
The Culture Ministry's Directorate General, Fitra Adra announced that the National Museum of Indonesia, or Gajah Museum will be closed for one year.
"We will temporarily close the museum for about a year. We will revitalize the museum until it is in better condition,"