BPK Reveals Basarnas is Not Yet Effective in Organizing Search and Rescue Operations
JAKARTA, BPK Public Relations - Board Member I of the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia (BPK) I Nyoman Adhi Suryadnyana handed over performance audit report on search and rescue operations of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) from year 2022 to Semester I of 2023, to the Head of Basarnas Marsekal Madya Kusworo in Jakarta on Thursday (22/2).
The audit aims to assess the effectiveness of the search and rescue operations carried out by Basarnas, using key areas or assessment indicators in three aspects, namely institutional, effectiveness of operations and support facilities and infrastructures.
“Based on the audit, BPK concludes that Basarnas is not yet effective in carrying out search and rescue operations during that period since issues were found in the operations,” said Board Member I of BPK.
Search and rescue operations at Basarnas are not fully effective, with 873 operations (24,82%) failing to fulfill travel time standard, 377 operations unable to remove all casualties, and no regular evaluations of the implementation of search and rescue operations were conducted. As a result, the search and rescue operations were not carried out in a timely, precise, safe and risk-free manner.
"Search and rescue alert is not yet fully effective in supporting the implementation of search and rescue, particularly because the composition of the alert team and rescuers on call does not represent collective capabilities, and was not formed based on an analysis of search and rescue operation needs. Based on this issue, the response time of 25 minutes at most has yet to be fulfilled and fast and precise search and rescue operations have not been accomplished," he said.
Another issue is that Basarnas’ human resources do not fully support the effectiveness of search and rescue operations, especially the placement of rescuers who are not based on the needs of work units and whose competencies do not meet the standards, as well as insufficient competency development programs, which result in uneven workloads and search and rescue services.
"Based on these problems, BPK recommends Basarnas to prepare a human resource development plan that includes targets and programs to fulfill rescuer personnel competency standards for long, medium and short term, creating a development program for certified instructors that is sufficient and evenly distributed across all work units and creating placement plan rescuers as needed," he stressed.
Director General of Audit I Akhsanul Khaq, Main Secretary of Basarnas Abdul Haris Achadi, high-level officials of Basarnas and BPK audit team attended the meeting.