The Governor of South Sulawesi, Syahrul Syahriar Limpo officially unveiled the new Emergency Operation Centre facility to the public in a handover ceremony on Monday, 1 June 2015. Designed to be a permanent support facilities on disaster emergency operation, the facility was constructed in cooperation by several agencies,including IOM Indonesia, the National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB), the Local Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) and the South Sulawesi government, with the generous support from the Australian government through the Australia Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction (AIFDR) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade( DFAT).
At the provincial level, the EOC facility will play a critical role of assisting the Commander of Operations in disaster management – from coordination, command, control, communication, and information - before, during and after an emergency. The EOC facility is essentially the government’s disaster management information and coordination hub at the provincial level with reliable multi-back-up communication links to relevant national and district level authorities.
The governor commended IOM for building the EOC. Acknowledging that South Sulawesi is a disaster-prone area, he viewed the EOC as a vital instrument in the prevention and management of disasters.
The Makassar EOC will be joined soon by the Kupang EOC, which is expected to be handed over to the local government of East Nusa Tenggara in the coming weeks. The EOC in Kupang was also built by IOM, in cooperation with BNPB, the Local BPBD and the local government. In the future, both EOCs are expected to become part of the national emergency response and preparedness network.