Cities in Indonesia are Hit by Disasters

Floods, earthquakes, water crises, deadly accidents, and fires plague rapidly growing cities in Indonesia. However, mitigation in these urban areas is still minimal.

KOMPAS/MACHRADIN WAHYUDI RITONGA

A resident crosses refugee camps in Cibulakan Village, Cugenang District, Cianjur Regency, West Java, Friday (16/12/2022). Hundreds of people took refuge in that place after their house collapsed in an earthquake, Monday (21/11/2022).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The tremors of an earthquake that spread from Banten were felt in Jakarta on Wednesday (10/5/2023). This event is reminiscent of the Cianjur earthquake that occurred about seven months ago. Cianjur city and its surrounding areas in West Java were devastated. At least 600 people died and many are still displaced. However, earthquakes are not the only disasters that plague the city.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded 30,771 disasters from 2012 to 2022, the majority of which occurred in urban areas. Around 44.95 million people were affected, including casualties, missing persons, injured individuals and displaced persons. A total of 1.03 million buildings were damaged, including homes, public facilities and infrastructure, and economic centers.

Previously, the BNPB reminded in one of its reviews on its website that the location and population density factors increase the vulnerability of Indonesia's urban areas to natural disasters and human actions. Currently, 56.7 percent of Indonesia's approximately 271 million population lives in urban areas.

Also read:

> The Misery of Living with Flash Floods and Rob Floods in Semarang

> Violating Spatial Planning, Disaster Strikes Again

The BNPB, citing the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, stated that hazards can be classified into geological, hydro-meteorological, biological and technological hazards. In addition, the decrease in environmental quality, high vulnerability and low capacity of various community components, as well as infrastructure and risky elements of the city or urban areas.

Cities today are growing and expanding around the junction lines of tectonic plates and at the foot of active volcanoes. In 2004, an earthquake followed by a tsunami leveled a part of Banda Aceh city in Aceh. In 2018, Palu city in Central Sulawesi was hit by an earthquake accompanied by liquefaction.

In addition to Cianjur, the latest earthquake occurred in Jayapura city in Papua. There were 1,551 earthquake clusters that occurred from January 2 to April 20, 2023.

The pace of development has led to an increase in people's access to knowledge and technology. This is often accompanied by fatal failures, such as transportation accidents, industrial accidents and disease outbreaks.

Cities also struggle to come up with policies and equitable and adequate economic, social and infrastructure development. Social inequality and jealousy have the potential to trigger community conflicts that could develop into national disasters.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Aerial photo of the overflow of the Citarum and Cibeet Rivers submerging residents' homes in Kampek Village, Karangligar Village, Telukjambe Barat District, Karawang Regency, West Java, Monday (8/5/2023).

Floods dominate

An environmental expert from the Faculty of Geography at Gadjah Mada University, Andung Bayu Sekaranom, said 95 percent of disaster events in Indonesia are hydro-meteorological disasters or those caused by the interaction between water in the atmosphere and water on the earth's surface.

"In 2015, there were 1,681 hydro-meteorological disaster events," he said in a discussion with Kompas last March. That number is more than five times higher than in 2002.

The most frequent hydro-meteorological disaster is flooding, followed by landslides every rainy season, as well as drought and wildfires increasing during the dry season. "Urban hydro-meteorological and hydrological problems involve changes in rainfall intensity and distribution, urbanization and urban creep [the conversion of green city covers], environmental degradation, changes in groundwater infiltration and changes in water channels or flow paths," he said.

The issue is exacerbated by the lack of coordination among stakeholders, changes in weather and climate that increase the frequency of extreme conditions.

Many areas do not have city managers.

The Association of Urban and Regional Planning Experts chairman Hendricus Andy Simarmata, explained in the same discussion that three aspects need to be considered: land reserves, infrastructure and city management. Land reserves need to be reserved by local governments, both for relocation land and disaster mitigation infrastructure.

"In addition, many areas do not have city managers. Administrative services are now modern or digital, but [existing city leaders] do not have urban planning capabilities," said Andy.

To be disaster-resilient, cities must have good spatial planning that can always be updated, especially during disruptions, such as the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, there is a need for city performance indicators, such as the ability to meet energy needs, clean water supply, waste management and maintain environmental quality. This determines the city's carrying capacity.

KOMPAS/AGUIDO ADRI

Joint SAR officers use heavy equipment to facilitate the search for landslide victims in Sirna Sari Village, Empang Village, South Bogor, Bogor City, West Java, Friday (17/3/2023).

Insufficient mitigation

The Association of Indonesian City Governments (APEKSI) chairman who is also the Mayor of Bogor, Bima Arya Sugiarto, on Wednesday (10/5/2023), acknowledged that disaster handling is still ad hoc. "The database is not integrated and the handling is partial," he said.

Not all cities have a disaster-prone map. City governments have not yet intensively discussed disaster mitigation as in the Apeksi forum. "I have to be honest that in Apeksi, policy advocacy, government governance, finance and autonomy are still prioritized," he said.

Another challenge is that the authority of local governments is very limited. Coordination with the central government and surrounding regions is still half-hearted. The existing legal umbrella is more toward emergency disaster regulations, including Law Number 24 of 2007 concerning Disaster Management and Presidential Regulation Number 17 of 2018 concerning the Implementation of Disaster Management in Certain Conditions.

Also read:

> Rivers in Indonesia Increasingly Dangerous

The Agrarian and spatial planning minister/the National Land Agency head, Hadi Tjahjanto, stated in a written statement on Tuesday (9/5) that he was fully attentive to the issue of disasters. His office has a role in controlling land use, namely preventive and repressive actions to ensure compliance with spatial planning.

Spatial planning, land and disaster management director of the National Development Planning ministry (Bappenas), Uke Mohammad Hussein, said on Saturday (13/5) that Presidential Regulation No. 18/2020 is a reference for the Medium-Term National Development Plan (RPJMN) 2020-2024.

The RPJMN is translated into the government's work plan (RKP). In the 2023 RKP, one of its priority focuses is strengthening disaster management, especially in high-risk areas with large and dense populations and significant investments. In addition, there is the Green City program to address disaster potential.

From these various explanations, it is clear that mitigation actions are like a counting sequence, while disaster events are like a measuring sequence. It is hoped that all parties will be more open to understanding the threat of urban disasters and, with all limitations, can accelerate disaster mitigation.

(IDO/AIN/ RAM/ VIO/ ITA/ RTG/IKI/JUM/ ESA/ CIP/ REN/ OKA/COK/FLO/GIO/VAN/DAN/BRO/ WER/XTI/HRS/NEL)

This article was translated by Tenggara Strategics.