Geological Agency
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources
Republic of Indonesia
Jalan Diponegoro No. 57 Bandung 40122, Indonesia
http://www.bgl.esdm.go.id

Outline

The Geological A gency ( GA) w as i nitially formed dur ing the D utch c olonialism er a in t he 18thcentury and w as c alled as K antoor v an he t M ijnwezen. I n 1850 , t he na me w as t ransformed i nto
Dienst v an het M ijnwezen. In 2005, i t w as finally c alled as the G eological A gency unde r theMinistry of E nergy and Mineral R esources ( MEMR) o f t he R epublic o f Indonesia. Based on t hedecree o f MEMR dated 18 N ovember 2010, the Geological A gency (Echelon-I) consists of f ive
Centers (Echelon-II), namely the Secretariat of Geological Agency (SGA), the Center f orGeological Resources ( CGR), t he Center f or V olcanology and G eological Hazard Mitigation(CVGHM), the Center for Groundwater Resource and Environmental Geology (CGREG), and theCenter for Geological S urvey (CGS). The CVGHM was established to conduct research,
investigation, engineering recommendations, and s ervices i n t he field of v olcanology andgeological hazard mitigation. In per forming i ts dut ies, the C VGHM performs several functions
including (a) the preparation of technical policy development, norms, standards, procedures, andcriteria, as w ell as pl ans and programs in the field o f volcanology and geological di sastermitigation; (b) the implementation o f research, i nvestigation, engineering, t hematic m apping an danalysis of geological di saster risk, as w ell as e arly w arning o f v olcanic ac tivity and pot ential ofground movement and the provision of technical recommendations on geological disastermitigation; (c) coaching functional o f v olcano w atchers or obs ervers; (d) monitoring, ev aluating
and r eporting the implementation o f research, i nvestigation, en gineering, thematic mapping an dgeological disaster risk analysis, as well as early warning of the volcanic activity and the potential
ground movement and the provision of technical recommendations geological disaster mitigation;and (e) the adm inistration. The organization structure of the CVGHM consists o f four sections,which are: (a) Section of Volcano Monitoring and Investigations (observing 67 active volcanoes by
70 v olcano obs ervatories, estimate and publ ish the s tates o r l evel of volcanic activity, pr oviding
technical recommendations within each states of volcanic activity, publishing disaster-prone area
maps, topographic maps , geological map, and providing counseling.

Research Achievements and Challenges
Achievements:
The establishment of the GA’s CVGHM has significantly contribute to geological disaster mitigation
in I ndonesia. A multidisciplinary r esearch ac tivity i s c ontinuously c arried ou t i ncluding geology,geophysics, geodesy, geochemistry, etc in line with socialization/dissemination of the results of ourresearch to c ommunities around t he hazardous areas ( see f igure). For us , r esearch is n ot
fundamentally conducted for s cientific pu rposes, moreover, i t has t o be us eful for m itigating
geological disaster risk and it must aslo be easy to understand by the people living in hazardous
area. C ost-effective and r elevant r esearch c arried out by t he GA’s C VGHM hav e a s ignificant
impact on the reduction of victims caused by geological hazards. Except for the 2014 tsunami, inaverage, number of victims caused by volcanic eruptions, earthquake, tsunami, and landslides inIndonesia is decreasing in line with the increase of people’s capacity. This is the most importantachievements of the GA in the framework of geological hazard mitigation in Indonesia.
Challenges:
The main challenge for disaster mitigation in Indonesia is to increase people’s awareness andcapacity in facing possible geological haz ards. G eological hazards oc cur al most t hroughout thecountry and Indonesia is a very large country, therefore, with the existing human resources we had,
it requires some times to overcome such challenge.