The event, held at the Betara district office hall, was also attended by Jambi Province’s resilient village program facilitators, local government officials and PetroChina’s government and relations advisor Ahmad Ramadlan and community development supervisor Yulian.

Yulian said that the trainings were part of a cooperation between PetroChina and the Tanjung Jabung Barat disaster mitigation agency (BPBD). Other than the disaster resilience training, the cooperation also included the establishment of a disaster risk reduction forum (FPRB).

“Hopefully, with better disaster resilience, local villagers will be more prepared to face any potential disasters. This is also why the FPRB is important,” he said.

Tanjung Jabung Barat regional secretary Agus Sanusi, who attended the training, said that the regency was prone to natural disasters, mainly forest and peatland fires, according to a disaster mapping carried out by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

“The regency must have systematic and integrated disaster mitigation methods. We need to adapt to new paradigms of disaster mitigation,” Agus said.

Tanjung Jabung Barat BPBD head Zulfikri said that he hoped the cooperation with PetroChina would boost disaster resilience among local villagers.