Malang, (malangkota.go.id) – The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Malang held a webinar on Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Mitigation in Malang a few days ago. This program is an effort to educate the public to be involved in disaster mitigation.
This webinar, which is a collaboration with the Google News Initiative, presents three competent speakers, namely the Head of the Karangkates Geophysics Station, Ma'muri, the Head of the Emergency and Logistics Division of the Malang Regency BPBD, Sadono Irawan, and the Merdeka Geologist, Andang Bachtiar.
"The media and the public need to be involved in disaster mitigation. Because disasters in the form of earthquakes always occur in Malang," said the Head of AJI Malang, Mohammad Zainuddin on Thursday (01/04/2021).
Earthquakes can occur at any time, whether recorded by seismographs or not. Therefore, it is important for all parties to be involved in this mitigation. This webinar was attended by around 150 participants including media, environmental activists and the general public. Data from the Malang Regency BPBD shows that almost all areas in Malang Regency are prone to disasters. The southern coast of Malang is among the most prone to earthquakes and tsunamis.
Head of Emergency and Logistics Division of BPBD Malang Regency, Sadono Irawan said that disasters in Malang Regency in 2021 increased compared to the previous year. There were 151 disasters recorded in Malang Regency during 2020. Meanwhile, the disasters recorded during this year until March 2021, have reached 122 disasters. "Meanwhile, the earthquake disasters recorded during 2021 were seven times," said Sadono when presenting the material in the webinar.
The earthquake disaster accompanied by a tsunami threatens the area on the southern coast of Malang Regency. "Starting from Donomulyo, Bantur, Gedangan, Sumbermanjing Wetan, Tirtoyudo to Ampelgading Districts, there is potential for a tsunami," he added.
Head of the BMKG Karangkates Geophysics Station Ma'muri revealed that the threat of a tsunami in Malang Regency does not only come from a point in Malang Regency. Ma'muri gave an example of the tsunami that occurred in 1994. The 13,9-meter tsunami originated from a point in Banyuwangi. But the impact was felt as far as Malang Regency and this disaster resulted in 250 deaths.
"We have conducted a survey, especially in Pacitan and Banyuwangi, to see the estimated waves and evacuation routes," said Ma'muri in a webinar themed 'Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Mitigation in Malang' held by AJI Malang.
BMKG issued several early warnings to minimize the number of victims due to the tsunami disaster, namely information on earthquakes that have the potential to cause a tsunami, estimated time of arrival of the waves, information on the results of observations of updates to the tsunami threat status, and the end of the early warning. "The most important thing is independent evacuation. People must recognize their area. If you feel the earthquake lasts a long time, immediately stay away from the coast," he added.
Merdeka Geologist, Andang Bachtiar also encouraged community involvement in disaster mitigation. Andang gave an example of a nature lovers community. According to him, nature lovers usually record important areas, such as tsunami scars, evacuation routes, and so on. "Actually, BPBD can work together with nature lovers. With a limited budget, nature lovers can already work," said Andang.
Moreover, in this era, almost all nature lovers have social media. When finding an important area, nature lovers only need to take pictures or make videos of the area, then upload them on social media. "So other parties, including BPBD, can take data from nature lovers that nature lovers have uploaded on social media," he said. (say/ram)
