Disaster Mitigation Through Independent Effort

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Ajiz Sulaiman

Volunteer experience becomes meaningful in the face of a disaster. To that end, Ajiz Sulaeman, 36, a resident of Sukajaya village, Sukajaya district, Bogor regency, motivates village youths to work on the front lines to help disaster victims.

As the year drew to a close, Ajiz reminded his friends not to stray too far from the village in their New Year’s Eve celebrations. Guided by his experience as a disaster volunteer, he had a feeling that several parts of Indonesia would be vulnerable to calamities at the beginning of the year.

His hunch was right. The downpours that soaked Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi at the turn of 2020 caused flash floods and landslides. The disasters also affected villages in Sukajaya district. Floods and landslides devastated parts of Bogor regency.

“When a disaster occurs in a region, we’re prepared to leave to provide relief. But we never expected that the calamity would prevail in our region,” said Ajiz on Jan. 30 in Sukajaya, Bogor regency.

He wanted the forum to spread social awareness among Sukajaya youth, including increasing their participation in disaster vigilance and mitigation.

The teacher at State Islamic Primary School I Bogor, Bogor regency, formed the Sukajaya Creative Youth Forum (FMKS) in 2013. He wanted the forum to spread social awareness among Sukajaya youth, including increasing their participation in disaster vigilance and mitigation.

To hone their disaster-response capabilities, forum members routinely work as volunteers. They assisted when a tsunami hit Pandeglang, Banten, at the end of 2018. Ajiz gets his members involved in various disaster-mitigation social activities. “We realize that our region belongs to the red [landslide-prone] zone. I also regularly invite several friends to join disaster vigilance socialization. We’ve done it since 2014,” said the father of two.

The routine social event has received a positive response from a number of Sukajaya youths. In the beginning, the community had 15 members. Today the total has increased to 25. Many youths are now becoming aware of the need to remain conscious of their region’s disaster vulnerability.

Their role was felt during the early-2020 flooding disaster. Under the coordination of Ajiz, they evacuated residents, built emergency tents, opened communal kitchens and healthcare stations and rehabilitated children suffering from post-disaster trauma.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Ajiz Sulaiman

Ajiz said that on the morning of Jan. 1, as rain poured down, he asked a community member to monitor the condition of a river flowing not far from their village. The observer noticed that the stream continued to rise and began to inundate settlements. Residents facing flooding were evacuated to safer places. The organization also set up kitchens to meet local people’s food needs.

Ajiz, along with the group of Sukajaya youths, moved to an adjacent area, Sinar Harapan hamlet, Harkatjaya village. There, seven people perished in landslides. At the time, residents stricken by landslides only evacuated a few hundred meters away from the disaster site. The hamlet was on a slope, so further landslides could still follow. However, they had no way of going farther away as the bridge connecting their settlement had been cut off.

Coordinating with residents, Ajiz built an emergency bridge. They were forced to take a number of logs owned by a villager without permission to construct the bridge. When the makeshift bridge was ready, residents were evacuated to safer locations: the Harkatjaya Village Hall and a primary school building near the hall. The injured were carried to the public health center and treated with supplies prepared by Ajiz earlier.

The disasters early this year disrupted power networks, communication channels and water pipelines in several villages in Sukajaya district. This posed a constraint as the other villages could not be monitored. The New Year calamity also caused the same havoc in Pasir Madang, Kiarapandak, Urug, Cileuksa and Cisarua – all villages in Sukajaya. Ajiz learned about the disasters in the nearby villages the next morning.

After external aid started entering, Ajiz mobilized Sukajaya youth to deliver the contributions to isolated locations.

After external aid started entering, Ajiz mobilized Sukajaya youth to deliver the contributions to isolated locations. His community members were asked to send basic necessities like food, drinks and clothes to remote villages on foot or by motorcycle. They carried out the activity for days.

“We assisted volunteers who brought the aid here. We accompanied them because many volunteers sometimes become victims as they are unfamiliar with the local terrain,” he said.

For Ajiz, as a house provides shelter and protection, its occupants should take care of it so it remains a convenient, harmonious place and causes no threat to life. Yet a nearby house had received no attention. It had been neglected to the point of near-collapse upon its occupants.

“There’s an eroded value, an identity that’s fading in line with the progress of the time. Forest-based nature is ignored and pawned. The teachings and messages of our forebears no longer serve as the basis to conserve nature.

Therefore, we should preserve ancestral values and teachings,” said Ajiz.

Ajiz’s volunteers do not limit their humanitarian work to disasters. He is aware that Sukajaya district belongs to a landslide-prone region and that people’s settlements mostly lie on sloping land. In the areas where they live, every bit of land is critical. Nonetheless, no attempts have been made to restore the damaged environment so far.

In terms of disaster vigilance, Ajiz has continued to campaign for responsive alertness, Since he became chairman of Sukaraja district’s Karang Taruna (neighborhood youth association) in 2019, Ajiz and Sukajaya district youths have managed to form the same organizations in four villages, which are Sukajaya, Harkatjaya, Cileuksa and Cisarua. Ajiz is tirelessly campaigning for disaster mitigation.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Ajiz Sulaiman

Ajiz Sulaeman

Born: Bogor, Dec. 21, 1983

Education:

- Sukajaya State Primary School 01 (1996)

- Cigudeg State Junior High School 2 (1999)

- Leuwiliang State Senior High School 1 (2002)

- Two-year Diploma of Primary School Teachers’ Training/MI, STAI Laa Roiba Bogor (2004)

- Islamic Primary School Education Department of Sunan Gunung Djati State Islamic University Bandung (2007)

- Postgraduate study of Educational Administration at Pakuan University