There’s a
simple way to slash the death and injury toll from the natural disasters that
brutalise Indonesia’s most vulnerable:
Stop people farming in danger zones, like banks of rivers prone to flood,
and the slopes of grumbling volcanoes.
However
policing such bans would be almost impossible in modern democratic Indonesia,
according to Medi Herlianto (right), director of preparedness in Badan Nasional Penanggulangan
Bencana BNPB – the national office for disaster management.
“Floodplains
and the lower levels of volcanoes are fertile areas where people grow crops and
raise stock essential to their livelihood,” he said. “They’ve been there for
generations. It’s their right.
“What we
can do is encourage citizens to be aware of the risks, understand what’s going
on and have the ability to escape. We don’t want everyone to rely on central
government.”
Herlianto
was speaking in Wellington on the sidelines of a New Zealand government aid
program study tour run by the research institute GNS Science. It’s been designed to help Indonesians
prepare for the next big horror show that a fickle universe can throw up.
The BNPB
was formed in 2008, four years after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. The policy is to develop district agencies
known as BPBD (Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah (district) so
communities can handle smaller emergencies themselves
That
includes ensuring villagers take responsibility for early warning systems. This year 22 tsunami sensor buoys installed
off the West Sumatra coast failed because they’d been plundered for parts or stolen
for scrap.
A new
system is being developed. “We will change the technology,” Herlianto said. “We’re
still working to help people realise the importance of these devices.”
In the past
natural disasters came ‘out of the blue’ as the idiom suggests, or as insurance
companies still say, ‘an Act of God’.
In the
scientific and rational age it is clear many catastrophes are predictable, like
heavy mountain rains ripping out treeless hillsides causing landslips and flooded
fields below.
Some precautions
are common sense; tertiary training isn’t necessary to know that forest trash
set alight during a drought is certain to cause down-wind smoke. In other
situations technology can help with automated weather-change stations.
Not every
disaster sends alerts. The 2004 tsunami
that killed around 250,000 (the majority Indonesians in Aceh), was triggered by
an undersea megathrust earthquake which hit without warning.
One thing
could have saved lives – an understanding of natural events. Before the waters hit coastal communities
the ocean inhaled leaving exposed beaches.
Unaware this
extreme low tide was the prelude to the tsunami, thousands ran onto the
suddenly bare sands to collect stranded fish and marvel at the rare
phenomenon. They were the frontline
victims when the tide reversed like a cavalry charge.
Disaster
mitigation and management is a growing business dominated by engineers like Herlianto who studied in France. But the industry needs multi-task experts willing
to cooperate with other professionals.
When Teuku
Faisal Fathani (left) enrolled at the prestigious Universitas Gadjah Mada he
was asked to number the Yogyakarta campus faculties. “Eighteen,” replied the
sharp young undergraduate who’d done his homework.
“Wrong,”
said the lecturer. “There are only
two: Engineering and non engineering.”
Faisal, as
he’s best known, tells the story to illustrate the arrogance of closed-mind
academics contemptuous of the trendy ‘soft’ courses luring students from the
traditional ‘hard’ sciences.
Times
change. In one of life’s many curious twists and turns, the student from Aceh
is now an associate professor of geotechnical engineering at UGM. This suggests his habitat is a factory
load-testing concrete girders.
Instead
he’s directing a disaster preparedness project that embraces many of the courses
despised by his superior decades ago – like sociology, psychology, political
science and anthropology.
“It’s
fascinating and I’ve learned so much,” he said. “Engineering is
measurable. It has a beginning and
end. It deals with known materials with
limits. That can lead to thinking in
terms of black and white. That’s not
how things work with tsunamis, earthquakes and other calamities.”
In the NZ
capital Faisal, along with 28 public servants and academics from four
Indonesian provinces, visited seaside suburbs most likely to drown should a
tsunami hit.
Knowing
that in the chaos and confusion of a major natural disaster people often panic,
blue signs and lines have been painted on roads leading to safe zones. It’s an example of a low cost initiative
that’s been copied by Indonesia and other countries.
After the
2010 eruption of Central Java’s Mount Merapi, Faisal co-authored a
self-evacuation program including maps of danger spots. Leaders were chosen and
groups assigned to take care of the old and vulnerable while fleeing in orderly
fashion.
“The
village of Glagaharjo was wiped out, but all residents survived because they’d
rehearsed an exit plan,” he said. “They knew what to do and where to go.”
Wellington mayor
Celia Wade-Brown told the Indonesians that her city had been built on a major
earthquake fault so it was important for citizens to be regularly reminded of
the dangers that could suddenly strike.
Pavement
plaques remind that the central business district is now several hundred meters
from the ocean. Before a 19th
century earthquake which tilted the harbor, shops and offices were on the
waterfront.
“Disaster
awareness must be part of the school curriculum – continuously educating
generations of the dangers even when nothing has happened for years,” said
Yunelimeta Asman Djannas (right) , who also studied in France.
She’s the
second in charge of a 78-strong BPBD, opened in 2010 in Agam. The West Sumatra
regency was an early acceptor of the need to establish local agencies. It’s also the site of floods and landslips.
“Unfortunately
not everyone is easily convinced that disasters will strike, or that if they do
anything can be done,” she said. “There’s a lot of conservative thinking and
resistance to new ideas. We need time to change mindsets. It’s a slow process.
“In my
religion (Islam) it’s taught that we have a duty to take care of ourselves, our
families and neighbors. That’s a
priority.”
In his stay
alert-be aware campaign Faisal and his colleagues have designed posters and
teaching materials, including some that only use pictures. “In isolated mountain settlements we’ve found
people over 50 who can’t read Indonesian,” he said.
“Getting
over fatalism is our biggest hurdle.
That’s why we need experts from other disciplines who understand the
best ways to convince people that they can save their lives in an emergency.”
In another
curious twist Faisal was in Japan studying for a doctorate when the tsunami
struck Aceh. Member of his family,
including his parents, were seriously hurt though none perished.
Back in Indonesia
he saw the psychological damage to victims of the catastrophe. “Survivors can
often suffer long-term emotional problems,” he said. “They are alive, but no longer
the same people.”
Faisal has now built a tsunami-resistant home
for his relatives who remain in the North Sumatra province.
By the numbers
Indonesia
has 127 active volcanoes.
Thirty per
cent of the population lives within 30 kilometers of a volcano.
Of all
volcanic eruptions worldwide last century, Indonesia ranked among the top ten
in deaths, injuries and home destruction.
The 2010
Mount Merapi eruption killed 302 and impacted more than 100,000.
In 2015
there were 1,685 disasters.
Most were
caused by floods, fires, droughts and landslips.
Disasters
cause knock-on economic damage to the nation through closed transport hubs,
school shut-downs and business disruptions – seven times the cost of the
original event.
BNPB says the
capacity to respond effectively to disasters is still limited. It wants to
reduce risks by 30 per cent within three years
(First published in The Jakarta Post 10 April 2016)
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