Walhi builds communication network in South Kalimantan's flood, landslide prone areas

Barabai, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) of South Kalimantan is building a communication network in areas prone to floods and landslides in Central Hulu Sungai (HST).

Walhi targeted five villages in Hantakan Sub-district and one village in Batu Benawa Sub-district to distribute amateur radio equipments.

Head of Walhi's the Resource Raising and Organizational Strengthening and Program Management Rudy Fahrianor said that the network is also extended to the HST government.

"There are several blankspot areas, such as in Datar Ajab Village. In our opinion, this communication network is important to build considering that after the early 2021 flash floods, information is difficult to access," he pointed out on Saturday (15/1) in Hantakan.

In addition to disaster information, he said, the network is also useful for community to communicate from village to village and to the district.

The equipment provided by Walhi were one RPU (repeater) tower, one RPU machine, eight solar cells, seven batteries, one RPU antenna, six antenna rigs, six radio rigs.

Other supports were 24 HT radios, six megaphones, 12 spotlights, and 30 headlamps.

"On December 18-20 2021, we have trained 30 volunteers from the five villages to operate the equipment," said the South Kalimantan Walhi activist.

Funds for the program came from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), while the activity was named "Early Warning System Development based on amateur radio".

The communication network that is still being built was well received by the local community. One of them is Kasman Susanto, the head of a volunteer group from the Meratus Command Post.

"What the South Kalimantan Walhi has done is very appropriate. It's clearly very helpful," he said.

Since the flash flood occurred until the post-flood, Walhi, said Kasman, had been active in helping the community. For example, in last October, Walhi together with the community carried out clean-up of rivers as an effort to mitigate flood disasters.