Indonesia is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world. Natural disasters that occur in Indonesia are very diverse, ranging from earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic eruption, flood, landslide, drought and forest fire. Geographically, Indonesia is in a disaster-prone region. This is because Indonesia is the meeting point of three major tectonic plates, the Eurasian plate, the Indo-Australian plate and the Pacific plate. Besides it is located at the so-called pacific ring of fire, a region of high volcanic and seismic activity that surrounds the Pacific Ocean. Currently there are approximately 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia In addition to natural disasters, Indonesia is also prone to social problems, such as transportation accident, industrial accident and outbreak due to infectious diseases. This requires various parties to participate in disaster management and disaster risk reduction. One who plays a role in disasters is a volunteer.
Volunteer is a person or group of people who have the ability or concern to work voluntarily and sincerely in disaster management efforts. A volunteer must know the principles of volunteer work. The principles of volunteer work are fast and precise, priority, coordination, efficient and effective, transparency, accountability, partnership, empowerment, non-discrimination, not spreading religion, gender equality, and respecting local wisdom. Each country has its own policies in anticipating disaster and emergency situations. Indonesia also has its own policy in managing volunteers in disaster management. A volunteer, especially medical volunteers who work in disaster situations must know the rules that apply in Indonesia. In Indonesia, the institution responsible for national disaster management is the National Disaster Management Agency. The National Disaster Management Agency has divided several clusters in disaster response according to the emergency response command system namely Health Cluster, Search and Rescue Cluster, Logistics Cluster, Refugees and Protection Cluster, Education Cluster, Infrastructure Cluster, Economic Cluster, Early Recovery Cluster or Government. A volunteer must know where the cluster is and how to coordinate when it comes to a disaster site. Medical volunteers are part of the health cluster. The main activities in the health cluster are medical, victim identification, reproductive health, psychosocial impacts, nutritional quality, water and sanitation. The coordinator of the national health cluster is the ministry of health and the coordinator is Emergency and Humanitarian Action, WHO.
Medical volunteers must have knowledge about disasters, coordination channels, skills in providing health services, protection and personal health. Therefore, before a volunteer goes to the site of a disaster it is better to attend a disaster management workshop.