Disaster Mitigation in Election Year

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Students conduct an earthquake disaster mitigation simulation at SMAN 78 state senior high school, Kemanggisan, Jakarta, Wednesday (23/01/2019). This simulation was the initiation of the results of the students\' literacy and awareness on various disaster issues and skills related to security and safety in the event of a disaster.

Kompas had at least two goals in publishing its reports on the need for disaster mitigation (for earthquakes and tsunamis) among its political news.

First, our minds will not become saturated (with political news). Second, it was intended as a reminder that earthquakes and tsunamis are real dangers that could come at any time and on a scale beyond our imagination.

Of course, the articles on disaster mitigation were not intended to scare people, but instead to make the public more aware about and alert to the dangers. A major earthquake is a clear and present danger.

As we read on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, eight earthquake hazard zones could unleash their accumulated energies at any time, which is normal according to the seismic process of maintaining natural balance but also potentially destructive. To cite Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) earthquake expert Irwan Meilano, among the tectonic zones that have stored energy (that could be releashed abruptly) are the Sunda Trench subduction zone off the southern coast of West Java, the Mentawai segment of the Sunda megathrust, the Aceh Besar-Banda Aceh segment of the Sumatran fault, subduction zones in the Maluku Sea and the Banda Sea, as well as other fault lines in Sulawesi and Papua.

We want to underline several things. First, although earthquakes originating from fault lines are usually less powerful than those originating from the Mentawai segment of the Sunda megathrust, the can have severe impacts because they occur in densely populated areas. As Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) head Dwikorita Karnawati stated, we need to especially monitor these eight earthquake hazard zones in Indonesia. Earthquakes rarely occur in these zones, but this is precisely why they have stored an enormous amount of energy.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Al Amin Cipayung early age education students listen to an introduction of the phenomenon of natural disasters such as tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides, which are packaged through science games at the Creative Community House, Jati Cempaka, Pondok Gede, Bekasi, West Java, Sunday (27/01/2019 ). Besides introducing science to the children, this activity is also intended to give knowledge on disasters from an early age while learning to respond to disasters with mitigation.

Likewise, Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI) earthquake expert Danny Hilaman Natawidjaja is paying special attention to this issue. He said that the Sunda subduction zone, which stretches across to southern Bali, was approaching the peak of its seismic cycle. Danny did not give an estimate of when an earthquake might occur. However, he explained that the 2004 Aceh earthquake occurred when the seismic cycle of the Sumatra-Andaman subduction zone was nearing its recurrence period of around 300 years.

However, Danny also asked that we pay attention to earthquake zone in eastern Indonesia, which had triggered a large tsunami in the past in Ambon. This is an urgent need, because we have less knowledge of seismic conditions in the eastern part of the country than in the western part.

We were interested in how experts approached this invisible situation. On the one hand, they usethe latest GPS (global positioning system) technology, which is highly sensitive and can detect changes in the earth’s surface due to fault movements. On the other, they examined historical movements in the earth’s crust (paleogeology) and historical tsunamis (paleotsunamis) to determine any patterns.

This kind of discourse might encourage those of the younger generation to explore these scientific fields. However, it is more urgent that we ready ourselves specifically to face the threats of the Mentawai segment and the Sunda Trench.

Given that the losses from disasters, whether human or material, can be extremely heavy, it would be great if the presidential candidates could also discuss the issue of disaster mitigation during the debates.