Mitigation Plan in Central Sulawesi No Longer Heeded

KOMPAS/VIDELIS JEMALI

A truck is parked on Monday (23/9/2019) at the remnants of the Palu IV Bridge in West Besusu village of East Palu district, Palu city, Central Sulawesi, one segment of which remains balanced precariously on a pier. It has been proposed that the surviving parts of bridge be turned into a memorial for the earthquake and tsunami that destroyed it on 28 Sept. 2018.

PALU, KOMPAS — A year after the earthquake, tsunami and soil liquefaction that devastated parts of  Central Sulawesi in September, last year, the mitigation-based spatial planning has begun to be ignored. Many survivors have begun to occupy the restricted zones due to lack of strictness on the part of the government and unclear socialization programs as well as attachment of the survivors to their livelihoods.

An earthquake with a 7.4-magnitude that hit Palu city, Sigi regency, and Donggala, Central Sulawesi, on 28 Sept. 2018,  triggered  a tsunami and a soil liquefaction in these areas. As many as 3,124 people died and 705 others went missing.  As many as 1,016 unidentified victims were also buried in a mass grave.

A total of 110,214 houses were damaged with a loss of Rp 24.96 trillion. After the disaster, the government published a map of disaster-prone zones. Restricted and dangerous zones are applied to the former tsunami and soil liquefaction areas and Palu-Koro fault line.

In the restricted zones, the construction of housing or new buildings is not allowed. Outside the red zone, houses can still be built but under certain conditions.

The survivors whose homes are in the restricted zone were relocated. The government is building permanent shelters with a target of completion in two years. While waiting for that, the government provides temporary shelters for the survivors.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Nuranisa and her son gaze out of their tent on Monday (23/9/2019) at a displaced persons camp in Balaroa village, West Palu, Central Sulawesi. More than 300 households – about 1,200 people – still live at the camp a year after an earthquake caused soil liquefaction to swallow up entire neighborhoods and settlements in Palu and Donggala.

However, the map of disaster-prone zones has begun to be ignored. Based on monitoring as of Thursday, on the Palu-Koro fault line on Jalan Asam II, Lere Village, West Palu district, three semi-permanent houses have been rebuilt. The three houses were built on the ruins of the damaged houses in the restricted zones.

Only one of the six poles built to mark parts of the restricted zones  during February-March 2019 still exist. The same condition was also found on Jl. Padanjakaya. Muchtar, 66, one of the homeowners, insisted that he did not want to move because the land provided by the government in the relocation area was too small. The size of his house is  10 meters by 40 meters, while the size of the land for the construction of relocation if houses is only 10 meters by 15 meters. He also admitted that he had removed the poles used to mark the restricted areas.

In West Mamboro and  Mamboro Induk village, North Palu  district, more than 50 houses have been rebuilt. The same scene is also seen in the villages of Loli Pesua and Loli Dondo, Banawa district, Donggala regency. Survivors built semi and permanent houses in the locations, among the areas which were severely destroyed by the tsunami.

The head of the RT 003 RW 001 neighborhood in  Mamboro Induk village, who is also the coordinator of the construction of temporarily shelters in Mamboro, Irvan admitted that it was difficult to forbid residents from rebuilding their homes in the former tsunami areas. Besides being unable to enforce the restriction firmly, the local authorities also can explain clearly about the details of the restricted zones.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Rows of white tents, some reinforced with sheets of blue tarp, stand on Monday (23/9/2019) at a displaced persons camp in Balaroa village, West Palu, Central Sulawesi. The earthquake that struck on 28 Sept. 2018 caused a tsunami and soil liquefaction that displaced 172,999 people, damaged 110,214 houses and incurred an estimated Rp 24.96 trillion in losses.

Firmness

The secretary of the Central Sulawesi provincial administration, Hidayat Lamakarate, said that regency or city government’s assertiveness was needed to enforce rules in the red zones. The red zones should be totally free from any forms of buildings.

The head of the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) of Central Sulawesi, Bartholomeus Tandigala, some time ago, said the poles had been built in the restricted zones to show the people that the areas cannot be used for residential areas.  "There are poles there. That is clear. What else we should explain?” he said.

Prohibition notices have been also installed in some areas in the red zones to tell the people not to build houses on the coastline, the former soil liquefaction area, and fault lines. However, in some parts of the red areas, the prohibition notices have not been installed.

The head of the BPBD office in the Palu city, Presly Tampubolon, admitted that a number of houses has been built in the restricted zone. He said that it was a cross-sectoral responsibility. He often asked relevant agencies to immediately take a firm action, but not to avail.

Regarding the reluctance of the survivors to be relocated communally to a place determined by the government, he said there should be proposed to offer an option that allows the survivors to relocate independently. For this reason, it is necessary for the local government to make a legal umbrella.

According to a lecturer at the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Tadulako University, Palu, Abdullah, the government had missed an opportunity to develop the spatial management based on mitigation. The loss of lives and destruction of buildings during the disaster should be a lesson for the establishment of the mitigation-based spatial plan. Ideally, houses currently being built in restricted areas should be put in order before they continue to grow.

(VDL)

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Amsir Toleso of Kayumalue Pajeko in North Palu district, Palu, Central Sulawesi, tends to mangrove seedlings on Tuesday (24/9/2019). He plans to replant the mangroves along the village coastline. An embankment once protected the village, but it was destroyed in the tsunami that was triggered by a major earthquake last year.