Risk index for natural disasters Indonesia 2023, by type

The risk index for a tsunami occurring in Indonesia in mid-2023 was 9.7 out of a maximum of ten points. Indonesia lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire” where volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, drought, and forest fires frequently happen. With at least 1.5 thousand natural disasters occurring in Indonesia every year, the archipelagic country has one of the highest natural disaster rates worldwide.

Epicentrum of natural disasters in Indonesia

Two of the most catastrophic natural disasters in human history took place in this archipelagic nation: the Tambora eruption in 1815, the most powerful volcanic eruption to date; and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, which was the most catastrophic tsunami so far with a death toll of over 225 thousand across 14 countries. The islands of Sumatra and Java have the highest number of volcanoes in Indonesia and as these are mostly active, these islands are more prone to natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes compared to other Indonesian islands.

Disaster management in Indonesia has not been fully optimized yet

With a series of major natural disasters in 2018, Indonesia’s disaster risk management budget tripled from 2017 to 2018. The budget kept increasing in the following years, especially for 2020, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite the prevalence and high frequency of natural hazards, there is still a strong and compelling need to improve and prioritize disaster management in the country. According to the Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure's data in 2022, the number of killed or missing people due to natural disasters in Indonesia showed a constant increase compared to the past five years.