Singapore Red Cross Committed S$2 Million To Develop Warehouses In Indonesia

Singapore, 16 September 2013 – Singapore Red Cross (SRC) committed S$2 million to help develop the regional warehouse and offices in Banjarmasin and Semarang, the Merapi POSKO Office (Command office) in Yogyakarta and the renovation of training centre facilities in Surabaya.

Targeted for completion in September 2014, these projects serve to enhance the disaster preparedness and response capabilities of Indonesian Red Cross Society [Palang Merah Indonesia (PMI)], to respond to emergencies within six hours of disasters.

The signing and ground-breaking ceremony was held on 16 September 2013 at Banjarmasin. SRC was represented by our Chairman, Mr Tee Tua Ba, Secretary General, Mr Benjamin William and the former Head of International Services, Mr Paul Poh.

Development of the regional warehouse

Currently, PMI operates four regional warehouses, covering about 70 percent of disaster prone areas across the country. The development of the regional warehouse is a strategic effort to enhance the coverage across disaster-prone areas. The ideal situation is to have six regional warehouses in order to cover all disaster-prone areas.

To achieve that, PMI will continue its plan to build the fifth regional warehouse in Semarang, which will cover the Central Java, Yogyakarta and west part of East Java Province and the sixth regional warehouse in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Central and East Kalimantan.

Renovation of training facilities in Gresik warehouse compound

The training facility of the PMI regional warehouse in Gresik/East Java has only one classroom and 10 accommodation rooms (one room per person) and facilities for outdoor activities currently. In the past, this training facility has often been used for non-logistics training for about 30 participants. It is likely that usage of this training facility will increase in the years ahead.

The renovation of the PMI training facilities at PMI’s regional warehouse in Gresik / East Java will enhance the accommodation capacity for additional accommodation space and necessary equipment. This training facility is designed to improve training service needs of the PMI. This will serve to maintain and enhance the quality of PMI training programmes in Indonesia.