Bulu’ Pattiroang Hill in Pattiro hamlet, Pallattikang village, Manuju district, Gowa regency, South Sulawesi, collapsed, burying the houses of local residents on Wednesday (23/01/2019). An estimated 18 villagers are believed to still be buried.
The rainy season is part of our annual weather cycle. Landslides and flood disasters need additional mitigation efforts outside the regular measures.
We are also concerned to see the floods and landslides that have struck several regions in the country. Most recently, the disasters struck 10 regencies and cities in South Sulawesi. It is estimated that more than 30 people were killed in the disasters. Floods and landslides also occurred in the Banjarnegara and Cilacap regencies of Central Java, as well as in Batu city and Malang regency in East Java.
High intensity rainfall is common in Indonesia. Our location on the equator and archipelagic geography actually offers advantages compared to some countries: The Philippines and Hong Kong experience typhoons and storms more frequently than Indonesia.
Lately, we have seen tornadoes accompanying the arrival of the rainy season. It even seems that more cyclones have been forming near the archipelago than they have in the past. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency’s (BMKG) data shows that the intensity of disasters is on an increasing trend, even though the average annual rainfall has remained relatively constant or has been decreasing. The data indicates an urgent need to develop a national disaster management system.
Flood disasters are generally caused by a decline in the water absorption capacity of the soil in upstream areas due to human activity, like deforestation or intensive annual farming that creates bare land, which encourages water to flow across the land surface. In addition, many mountain slopes and hills have been converted into agricultural land, generally for seasonal crops, without considering the grade of the slope.
Disaster hazard maps, including landslide hazard maps, are readily available. Regents, mayors and governors play a vital role in ensuring that their people do not reside in areas that are highly vulnerable to disasters.
The rainy season comes every year, generally peaking in February or March. We also know that the five-year La Nina cycle bring a rainy season that is wetter than usual.
We were also warned more than 20 years ago about the rising temperature of the Earth that has caused climate change. Adapting mitigation efforts to climate change is necessity that should have been done long ago to prevent loss of life and property.
The newly appointed Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Doni Munardo, has been tasked with developing a comprehensive disaster management system that goes beyond reactive mitigation to fully incorporate disaster prevention and preparedness measures.
We must still prioritize to living in balance with nature. Therefore, we believe that the natural disasters that have occurred in the last six months should be used as an opportunity to reevaluate our disaster prevention and mitigation measures.
