KERENTANAN DAN KAPASITAS RESPON MASYARAKAT KOTA PADANG TERHADAP BAHAYA TSUNAMI

Potential risk of a disaster can not be separated from the potential natural hazards and the vulnerability of the people residing within a region. Experts estimate is that Padang City is one of the city in Indonesia are threatened by the danger of the tsunami. Both the City and the community have been aware of the potential tsunami waves that threaten the city of Padang. Recently, a number of tsunami hazard early warning sirens have been installed at several locations at Padang, which will warn the people if there are a tsunami threat. This study aims to understand and map response capacity the people of Padang toward tsunami early warning system and their vulnerability by using questionnaires and focus group discussion methods. The results of this study show that the category of people response is still not enough for tsunami warning to be more effective, although it should be emphasized that on the other hand the people vulnerability has been low enough, when the survey conducted in Padang City in between 2007 until 2009.

FUNGSI PERINGATAN DINI DAN KESIAPAN MASYARAKAT DALAM PENGURANGAN RESIKO BENCANA TSUNAMI DI INDONESIA: STUDI KASUS DI KOTA PADANG

ABSTRAK Gempabumi (Mw = 9.3) yang terjadi pada tanggal 26 Desember 2004 yang lalu, dengan sumber ± 160 km dari pantai barat Provinsi NAD, telah memicu mega-tsunami yang dahsyat. Gelombang tsunami tersebut tidak hanya menyapu wilayah Provinsi NAD akan tetapi juga pantai-pantai di negara-negara seputar lautan Hindia. Tidak adanya kesiapan masyarakat serta belum adanya peringatan dan tidak dipahaminya tanda-tanda alam yang menyebabkan gelombang tsunami telah menyebabkan banyaknya jatuh korban pada saat bencana tahun 2004 yang lalu. Sistem peringatan dini bahaya tsunami dapat didasarkan kepada tanda-tanda alam yang mendahuluinya atau yang secara resmi disampaikan kepada masyarakat berdasarkan sistem yang dirancang secara khusus dengan menggunakan teknologi modern, yang penggunaannya di Indonesia telah diresmikan sejak tahun 2008 yang lalu. Sejumlah sirine untuk mendukung peringatan dini tersebut telah pula terpasang disejumlah tempat di wilayah rawan tsunami di Indonesia, diantaranya di Kota Padang. Namun demikian, efektivitas suatu sistem peringatan dini tsunami, sangat ditentukan oleh kesiapan masyarakat dalam mengantisipasi ancaman bahaya tsunami. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengembangkan suatu analisis kesiapan masyarakat yang terpapar oleh bahaya tsunami di Kota Padang, dalam merespon dan memahami peringatan dini bahaya tsunami. Kajian dilakukan dengan metoda kuesioner untuk menganalisis fungsi peringatan dini dan kesiapan masyarakat di Kota Padang terhadap ancaman bahaya tsunami. Sedangkan pertanyaan-pertanyaan terkait dalam kuesioner digolongkan dalam unsur-unsur kewaspadaan, perencanaan evakuasi dan unsur pendukung kesiapan

On the importance of risk knowledge for an end-to-end tsunami early warning system

Warning systems commonly use information provided by networks of sensors able to monitor and detect impending disasters, aggregate and condense these information to provide reliable information to a decision maker whether to warn or not, disseminates the warning message and provide this information to people at risk. Ultimate aim is to enable those in danger to make decisions (e.g. initiate protective actions for buildings) and to take action to safe their lives. This involves very complex issues when considering all four elements of early warning systems (UNISDR-PPEW), namely (1) risk knowledge, (2) monitoring and warning service, (3) dissemination and communication, (4) response capability with the ultimate aim to gain as much time as possible to empower individuals and communities to act in an appropriate manner to reduce injury, loss of life, damage to property and the environment and loss of livelihoods. Commonly most warning systems feature strengths and main attention on the technical/structural dimension (monitoring & warning service, dissemination tools) with weaknesses and less attention on social/cultural dimension (e.g. human response capabilities, defined warning chain to and knowing what to do by the people). Also, the use of risk knowledge in early warning most often is treated in a theoretical manner (knowing that it is somehow important), yet less in an operational, practical sense. Risk assessments and risk maps help to motivate people, prioritise early warning system needs and guide preparations for response and disaster prevention activities. Beyond this risk knowledge can be seen as a tie between national level early warning and community level reaction schemes. This presentation focuses on results, key findings and lessons-learnt related to tsunami risk assessment in the context of early warning within the GITEWS (German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning) project. Here a novel methodology reflecting risk information needs in the early warning context has been worked out. The generated results contribute significantly in the fields of (1) warning decision and warning levels, (2) warning dissemination and warning message content, (3) early warning chain planning, (4) increasing response capabilities and protective systems, (5) emergency relief and (6) enhancing communities’ awareness and preparedness towards tsunami threats. Additionally examples will be given on the potentials of an operational use of risk information in early warning systems as first experiences exist for the tsunami early warning center in Jakarta, Indonesia. Beside this the importance of linking national level early warning information with tsunami risk information available at the local level (e.g. linking warning message information on expected intensity with respective tsunami hazard zone maps at community level for effective evacuation) will be demonstrated through experiences gained in three pilot areas in Indonesia. The presentation seeks to provide new insights on benefits using risk information in early warning and will provide further evidence that practical use of risk information is an important and indispensable component of end-to-end early warning

Generating tsunami risk knowledge at community level as a base for planning and implementation of risk reduction strategies

More than 4 million Indonesians live in tsunami-prone areas along the southern and western coasts of Sumatra, Java and Bali. Although there now exists a Tsunami Early Warning Center in Jakarta, installed after the devastating 2004 tsunami, it is essential to develop tsunami risk knowledge within exposed communities as a basis for tsunami disaster management. Communities need to implement risk reduction strategies to mitigate potential consequences. The major aims of this paper are to present a risk assessment methodology which (1) identifies areas of high tsunami risk in terms of potential loss of life, (2) bridges the gaps between research and practical application, and (3) can be implemented at community level. High risk areas have a high need of action to improve people’s response capabilities towards a disaster and thus to reduce the risk. The methodology developed here is based on a GIS approach and combines hazard probability, hazard intensity, population density and people’s response capability to assess the risk. Within the framework of the GITEWS (German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System) project, the methodology was applied to three pilot areas; one of which is southern Bali. Bali’s tourism is concentrated for a great part in the communities of Kuta, Legian and Seminyak. Here alone, about 20,000 people live in high and very high tsunami risk areas. The development of risk reduction strategies is therefore of significant interest. A risk map produced for the study area in Bali can be used for local planning activities and the development of risk reduction strategies

Role of community's vulnerability at local level and its contribution to tsunami risk in Indonesia: Study case at Padang municipality

It has been generally understood that majority of the coastal region in Indonesia are potentially affected by tsunami disaster risk. Several tsunami disasters reported had been struck some coastal region in Indonesia. The worst evidence was in Aceh in 2004 which killed more than 150.000 peoples. One month after Tsunami disaster in Aceh, The World Conference on Disaster Reduction at Kobe in 2005 outlined the significant endeavor to develop the understanding on community’s vulnerability in order to reduce the disasters risk. Vulnerability together with natural hazard is the factors which determine the degree of risk. However, natural hazard, its magnitude and intensity, is beyond of human control; in contrary vulnerability is a factor that is influenced by the process of human social activity. Consequently, vulnerability plays an important role to determine the degree of the disaster risk. Therefore, it is very important to increase the understanding of vulnerabilities, its role and contribution, within different social groups in order to reduce the risk of disaster. This study is objected to examine the vulnerability of the exposed community to tsunami disaster at three priorities area in Indonesia which potentially affected by tsunami hazard. This paper advances the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of vulnerability to understanding the spatial dimension of vulnerability. It shows an insight into different methodologies and data sources that can be used to assess various characteristics of vulnerability. The initial result of this study, by means of household-questionnaires based, are shown and discussed. This study demonstrates some vulnerability variation at the pilot areas that may affect the communities to the tsunami risk. In this paper is presented the preliminary result of vulnerability assessment at Padang Municipality as an example

Risk and vulnerability assessment to tsunami and coastal hazards in Indonesia: Conceptual framework and indicator development

Vulnerability Assessment and Risk Modelling is an important component for an effective End-to-End Tsunami Early Warning System and therefore contributes significantly to disaster risk reduction. The knowledge about elements at risk, their susceptibility, coping and adaptation mechanisms are a precondition for the setup of people centred warning structures, local specific evacuation planning and recovery policy planning. In the past the quantification of vulnerability was mainly based on economic damage assessments. According to the three pillars of sustainable development, we develop and present indicators for the socio-economic and physical dimension of vulnerability. The main task of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) together with the United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and the Indonesian partners is an assessment of vulnerability and coastal risk towards tsunami threats. The study presented here is embedded in the German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GI-TEWS) project, where DLR and UNU-EHS aim at developing indicators to measure the vulnerability of coastal areas of Sumatra, Java and Bali exposed to tsunami risk. Products of the three years project include new physical and socio-economic vulnerability assessment, vulnerability and risk maps and guidelines for decision makers how to monitor and conduct continuous vulnerability assessment for effective early warning and the disaster mitigation strategies. This paper outlines in more detail the conceptual basis of the research, the process of indicator development and the project status

Tsunami risk assessment in Indonesia

In the framework of the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) the assessment of tsunami risk is an essential part of the overall activities. The scientific and technical approach for the tsunami risk assessment has been developed and the results are implemented in the national Indonesian Tsunami Warning Centre and are provided to the national and regional disaster management and spatial planning institutions in Indonesia. The paper explains the underlying concepts and applied methods and shows some of the results achieved in the GITEWS project. The tsunami risk assessment has been performed at an overview scale at sub-national level covering the coastal areas of southern Sumatra, Java and Bali and also on a detailed scale in three pilot areas. The results are provided as thematic maps and GIS information layers for the national and regional planning institutions. From the analyses key parameters of tsunami risk are derived, which are integrated and stored in the decision support system of the national Indonesian Early Warning Centre. Moreover, technical descriptions and guidelines were elaborated to explain the developed approach, to allow future updates of the results and the further development of the methodologies, and to enable the local authorities to conduct tsunami risk assessment by using their own resources