Bogor, W Java (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Police (Polri) have launched a tree-planting program as part of its environment regreening strategies and to avert a recurrence of the floods and landslides that recently hit several parts of the country.
Polri Chief General Idham Azis led the launch of the program by planting an eboni seed in the vicinity of the Indonesian Police Headquarters' Multifunction Training Center in Cikeas Bogor District, West Java Province, on Friday.
"Today, we plant a total of 2,020 seeds merely as a symbol to highlight our resolve to spur the Indonesian community to care for the environment, so that the future of our children and grandchildren will be better than now," he stated.
Polri is collaborating with the Indonesian Military (TNI), National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), regional governments, and environmentalists to partake in the tree-planting program to demonstrate their commitment to environmental conservation.
The police decided to launch the program on January 10, 2020, since it coincides with the International 1-Million Tree Planting Day and National Environment Day, he explained.
The tree-planting program is a national movement necessitating police personnel to plant trees, from the level of police precinct to the National Police Headquarters.
Early this year, flash floods and landslides affected several parts of Indonesia.
According to BNPB's spokesman, Agus Wibowo, flash floods and landslides swamped a wide range of areas in various sub-districts in the provinces of Jakarta, West Jakarta, and Banten.
The flash floods, caused by high-intensity rainfall in early January, submerged several areas of 18 sub-districts in Bekasi District, 17 sub-districts in Jakarta, and 13 sub-districts in Bogor District and Tangerang City respectively.
The disaster also affected 12 sub-districts in Bekasi City; 11 sub-districts in Depok City; and six sub-districts in Lebak District, Bogor City, and Tangerang Selatan City respectively, Wibowo stated.
Consequently, floodwaters, submerging houses, led to the forced displacement of 149,537 residents of Bekasi City in West Java Province. They were accommodated at 97 temporary shelters, while 11,474 Jakartans also took refuge and stayed at 66 temporary shelters.
The catastrophe had also killed at least 60 people and caused two others to go missing, Wibowo added.
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