High Waves Up Pressure to Improve Coastal Management

ANTARA FOTO/ADITYA PRADANA PUTRA

Boats belonging to local fishermen are ashore at Menganti Beach, Ayah, Kebumen regency, Central Java, Thursday (26/7/2018). The fishermen prefer not to go out to sea due to high waves along Central Java’s southern coast.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The high waves that hit the coastal regions of southern West Java should give new impetus to coastal management. Beachside buildings should conform to rules regarding safe zones to minimize the impact of disasters. Experts are saying that high waves will continue over the next few weeks.

“Many coastal regions should be reorganized. Zoning rules should be reinforced for public safety,” the Public Works and Housing Ministry’s coastal research and development center head, Leo Sembiring, said in Jakarta on Thursday (26/7/2018).

On Wednesday morning, waves between 3.5 meters and 6.5 m in height hit the shores of Sukabumi, Cianjur, Garut, Tasikmalaya and Pangandaran. Hundreds of homes and shops were leveled by the high waves, which rolled 70 meters inland, which is 25 cm and 30 cm above the sea level. Locals and tourists were seen running away from the beach and for the hills.

Leo said a ban on buildings in tidal zones would be a good example of disaster mitigation. This would minimize damage caused by high waves.

This is regulated in Presidential Regulation No. 51/2016 on buildings on beaches. The regulation stipulates that buildings should stand at least 100 meters from the highest coastal area inundated during high tide. However, many buildings on West Java’s southern shores are built at a closer distance to the coastline. “No buildings should exist within this minimum boundary. In several events, high water flowed more than 100 meters inland from the edge of the tidal zone,” Leo said.

Early warning systems should also be improved, especially the sending of alert messages to locals. This is necessary to allow locals to evacuate as soon as possible when high waves are approaching. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had always issued warnings during high waves. “The question is whether the information is accessible by locals,” Leo said.

Wind velocity

The head of the BMKG station in Bandung, Tony Agus Wijaya, said the high waves had been triggered by winds of more than 37 km per hour, induced by the eastern monsoon from Australia that passed over Java.

Currently, the Jongdari storm is hitting the Philippines. This indirectly increased wind velocity in southern West Java, due to the difference in air pressure between the northern and southern hemispheres. “High waves may occur every year at the peak of the dry season, in July and August,” he noted.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

High waves slam into Samas Beach in Bantul, Yogyakarta, on Wednesday (25/7/2018). Local fishermen temporarily stopped fishing activities over the past month because of the waves, which have reached up to 6 meters in height.

As of Thursday afternoon, around 100 locals in Cikawungading village, Cipatujah district, Tasikmalaya regency, still refuse to go back home. They chose to stay at an evacuation shelter located on an open field some 200 meters from the coastline. “People are traumatized by the 6-meter-high waves that hit their shops when they were inside,” Cipatujah disaster mitigation team coordinator Rachmat Saputra said.

The Lampung Maritime Meteorology Station has also issued a warning for persistent high waves until July 29. Locals on the coastline are warned to be alert. Waves between 1.25 m and 2.5 m high are expected to hit the northern Sunda Strait. Waves in western Lampung and the southern Sunda Strait may reach between 2 m and 4 m.

Requested to evacuate

Pesisir Barat Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Syaifullah said in Lampung that the agency had requested locals living on coastlines to stay at their relatives far from the beach for a while. “This is to anticipate possible disasters,” Syaifullah said on Thursday.

Pesisir Barat regency on Lampung’s west coast was hit worst by high waves in Lampung province. On Wednesday, waves in the area damaged 10 homes in Kerbang Dalam village, Pesisir Utara district, Pesisir Barat. The 3-m-high wave carried away one house and wrecked a manmade dike beside Jl. Lintas Barat Sumatra that connects Lampung and Bengkulu in Mandiri Sejati village, South Krui, Pesisir Barat.

High waves may still hit Indonesia’s southern coastlines that border the Indian Ocean in the period of July 27-29, triggered by high air pressure over the ocean and the Australian monsoon. At its recent press conference, the BMKG said waves as high as 6 meters could hit Sabang, Simeulue Island, the western shores of Nias and Mentawai, western Lampung, southern Enggano, southern Banten, southern Java, southern Bali and Sumbawa. High waves should also be expected at the southern Bali-Lombok-Alas Strait, Sumatra’s Indian Ocean west coast and Java’s south coast all the way to East Nusa Tenggara.

BMKG maritime meteorology information section head Eko prasetyo said on Thursday that the high-pressure Mascarene high wind over the Indian Ocean would induce high waves from July 27-29. “Apart from the waves’ height, their frequency will also increase,” Eko said.

(SEM/NIK/TAM/ZAK/VIO/BAY/E21)