Tsunami Sunda Strait 2018

Responding to Tsunami Sunda Strait: Volunteering Service of DRT MENWA UI

Background

When I heard about the news on the tsunami that hit the Sunda Strait, I was completing my final assignment with UNESCO for the Haze Project in Riau under the Malaysia funds in Trust (MFIT) with the Social and Human Sciences (SHS) Unit. Honestly, I could not get rid the thought out of my head to take part in the response, the main reason is that one of the affected areas, Pandeglang, was one of my project site in 2014-2016 when I was working for the Project in Building Model for Tsunami Preparedness: Capacity Building for Schools and Communities under the support of Indonesia Funds in Trust (IFIT) with Disaster Risk Reduction and Tsunami Information Unit  (DRRTIU) of UNESCO Office Jakarta in partnership with LIPI and BMKG, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-X5lfWkb_U. I finally responded to the situation on 28 December to 30 December 2018, 5 days after the tsunami that happened on 23 December 2018.

Small Response and Learning Big
The response was not a big scale or major operation, it was more as monitoring and distributed small aid from personal donations, such as solar panel, rice, mung bean, baby bed set, drinking water, and a hygiene kit. My senior colleague in the World Bank was also helping hand collecting donations in the form of the Solar Home Family System.

As part of transferring knowledge and experience, I brought 2 of my juniors from the Student Regiment of the University of Indonesia (Menwa UI) to join the mission and my partner as our driver. We then joined with the team from Samson Tiara which is my partner's office or training center that works in the safety and survival offshore training sector. We connected with several agencies during the response, such as Muhammadiyah Disaster Management Center (MDMC), Ministry of Maritime and Fisheries, and Ministry of Environmental and Forestry. A brief note of our journey is summarized below.

28 December 2018

In our first day of the mission, we visited the MDMD Response Post that is based in Labuan Sub-district, Pandeglang, Banten province. We delivered our donation, which is the Solar Home Family System. This solar system was given and used by the IDPs Camp in Lampung, which was located on the outer island and the area was also affected by the tsunami. 

We also spent some time visiting the Labuan Evacuation Shelter or TES which was not completed constructed. Rumor has it, that the construction was stopped due to corruption issues (https://regional.kompas.com/read/2018/12/28/22193761/shelter-tsunami-labuan-dibangun-tapi-tidak-berfungsi-karena-korupsi?page=all).

This Temporary Shelter or known as Labuan TES is an eight-story heigh with ramp access. Yet, the only space that is available to be used by the IDPs is in the top floor. However, the condition in this floor is poor of lighting and only 2 toilets that are available. Not much people aware and know the function of this site. As far as  I remember when I visited this place in 2015 when it was completed constructed, people around the areas did not know the function of this building when we asked them randomly. As it is abandoned, this site is now being used for drug transaction and sex. 

Same construction or even worse can also be found in TES Pemenang in Lombok, NTB Province that is badly damaged due to 2018 earthquake (https://www.suarantb.com/gedung-evakuasi-bencana-klu-diduga-gagal-konstruksi/). 

Similar condition also found in TES Kampung Melayu in Bengkulu (https://www.radarbengkuluonline.com/2018/12/09/mubazir-gedung-shelter-tsunami-tidak-terawat/)

The Ministry of Public Works (PUPR) is the authorized agency that built the TES. in 2014-2015, there were several TESs that were constructed, include the three TESs above and the others that are located in: Koto Tangah 1-Padang, Sumatera Barat; Ilir Talo-Seluma, Bengkulu; Wanasalam-Lebak, Banten; Peukan Bada-Aceh Besar, Aceh; Serangan-Denpasar, Bali; Padang Utara-Kota Padang, Sumatera Barat; Srandakan-Bantul, Yogyakarta, and; Pangandaran, Jawa Barat (https://properti.kompas.com/read/2019/01/15/223000221/seberapa-penting-tempat-evakuasi-sementara-saat-tsunami-?page=all).

The designs of each of this TES are different, yet it is important to ensure that the construction should withstand to strong currents and multi waves. The PUPR has published the guideline for this construction (http://sni.litbang.pu.go.id/image/sni/isi/06prtm2009.pdf) and there are also plenty of reference that can also be used, for instance from the FEMA on the construction of evacuation sites or shelter.

https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1564165488078-09ab4aac641f77fe7b7dd30bad21526b/Planning_Considerations_Evacuation_and_Shelter-in-Place.pdf

https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1719-25045-1822/fema_p646a.pdf

https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1564165488078-09ab4aac641f77fe7b7dd30bad21526b/Planning_Considerations_Evacuation_and_Shelter-in-Place.pdf

The main problem is not just to ensure the quality of the building, also to educate the people to use the TES in maximum, for instance to use it as community meeting points, youth center, etc during normal situation.

After the tsunami 2018, Later in 2019, the BNPB used this building for Tsunami Evacuation simulation (https://twitter.com/BNPB_Indonesia/status/1161538929365082112/photo/3).

From the TES Labuan, we continued our journey to Fish Market or TPI nearby. The reason was because of the Tsunami Sirene that is located here. Also in this area, there are many government offices that are affected, include the Office of Marine and Fisheries (KKP), the Search and Rescue Office, as well as naval Base. In KKP Labuan, we met with Mr.Dede, an official staff who happened was on duty at this time. He shared his story about the sirene was not working during the tsunami events, he also mentioned that the Tsunami Sirene is owned by the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) despite the fact that is constructed in KKP area. He later then admitted that the KKP staff do not have the knowledge of how this sirene worked and that the coordination between both agencies is weak. 

The KKP office happened to own a warehouse that was being functioned as a storage room to keep the relief item donations. We donated several instant foods, such as infant bedding sets, rice cake, and mung bean porridge. we ended our first day of mission and decided to crash in at my partner's training center office as there was no available accommodation or safe haven near the areas.

 

29 December 2018

Samson Tiara is a multinational safety and survival offshore training center that is well known by the public (see http://www.samson-tiara.co.id/). We were lucky to have the chance to join their staff on the second day of our mission. Nine of us: Nanda Alfiyandi and Ade Putra from MENWA UI, me, my husband, and Pak Dedi, Mas Angga, Mba Risma, Mas Ipul, and his wife.

Nine of us in three cars were heading to the KKP Post to distribute the blankets, slippers, hygiene kit, mattress, clothes, and foods from the Samson Tiaras staff. While from us, we donated a Solar Home Family System. The KKP staff were astonished by the Solar System as we demonstrated to their technical staff on how to use the system.

 

As a form of their appreciation, the KKP staff took us for a tour around the complex and explained to us the chronology of the tsunami event that was recorded by the CCTV in their backyard. The tsunami waves managed to wash the 1-2 meters of the wave breaker in this backyard.

After ending our discussion and tour at KKP Post, we were heading to the IDPs Camp Site in Perhutani Office which is located in the uphill of the hiking trail in Sanggrahan. There were around 1,007 IDPs that stayed in this site, most of them are women and children. We donated mineral water and hygiene kits. We had a chance to look around the site a bit before ending our mission and heading back to Depok.

The Tsunami Early Warning System in Sunda Strait

Adding to this page, i remembered back then in 2014, I wrote a short summary from my mission to Pandeglang about the Tsunami Early Warning System (TEWS) that focus on the 4 elements of the Early Warning System, which are: Monitoring and Warning Device, Risk Information, Dissemination and Communication, and Response Capability (see https://www.unisdr.org/2006/ppew/whats-ew/basics-ew.htm), i managed to dig old file and found this brief paper as enclosed. 

The Chronology of Tsunami Sunda Strait

As it would take longer pages to explain the historical and chronology of the Tsunami Sunda Strait, I would recommend you to visit the U-INSPIRE (Youth and Young Professionals on SETI in DRR) webpage to find a more comprehensive fact sheet on the tsunami event (see https://uinspire.id/factsheets/). The practitioners and professionals from U-INSPIRE, including myself developed this Tsunami Sunda Strait fact sheet to help the people to understand more about tsunami and future preparedness.

Future Preparedness for Pandeglang

It is very important for the Banten Province to start taking seriously in developing their Tsunami Preparedness Program. As Pandeglang is one of the famous beach tourism sites, the needs to educate and strengthen tourism resilience against tsunami as well as another type of specific disaster, include volcano eruption is vital. An example from UNESCO-IOC tsunami readiness indicators can be used as a measurement to develop such a program. For more information about this kindly visit the UNESCO IOC and IOTIC websites at https://iotic.ioc-unesco.org/ and http://www.ioc-tsunami.org/. Side note, I was also supporting the IOTIC during my assignment with UNESCO and contributed to developing some of their products and activities. 

A good example can be seen from the  ITDC (Indonesia Tourism Development Centre) in Badung, Bali that can be adopted in Pandeglang areas, Banten Province (see https://itdc.co.id/press-release/itdc-pedomani-tata-bangunan-dan-lingkungan-untuk-kembangkan-kek-mandalika-20191220064946). A good reference can also be taken as an example,  from the Tsunami Kit that is developed  by the GiZ (previously known as GTZ, see https://www.gitews.org/tsunami-kit/id/id_tsunami_evacuation_map_badung.html).

As for the wider public, the needs and urgency to access information and monitoring of disasters and risk are also crucial. Indonesia is a good example of this matter. As it has developed multi-platform of disaster media information that can be accessed by the public.

Recommendation

In the end, by taking the lesson learned from the Tsunami Sunda Strait, the following key actions must be taken as part of the priority to build preparedness against future disaster(s).

1. To strengthen the Tourism Disaster Preparedness through Tourism Village Program (DEWI)

2. To improve the end to end early warning system

3. To integrated the tsunami  readiness or disaster preparedness indicators into development planning

4. To work with the academia and practitioners to improve and update the science aspect of DRR and combine it with the local knowledge

5. To improve multi-stakeholder engagement, partnership, and collaboration by using the existing platform such as DRR Forum or Local DRR Platform

6. To strengthen the Village Disaster Preparedness Program (DESTANA) and 

Appreciation Note: 

Thank you to Nanda, Ade, Samson Tiara Staff, MDMC, KKP,  my partner: Jimmy Poncho Majabubun, and Pak Iwan Gunawan for all the supports for this small response mission!.

Strengthening Recovery and Tourism Readiness Towards Disaster

Recovery of Tourism Sector Post Disaster:  

A Lesson Learnt from Lombok Tourism Post EQ 2018

Disaster Vulnerability of Indonesia Tourism Sites

Lombok Island has been named the Best Halal Tourist Destination on the 2019 Indonesia Muslim Travel Index (IMTI). Tourism is one of the strategic sectors in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), besides agriculture, and trade and commerce. Several of its renowned tourism sites, are Mount Rinjani, Kuta Mandalika, Three Gili Islands, and Mount Tambora. Following the earthquake that hit the island in 2018 on 5 July 2018 (Magnitude 6,4), 5 August 2018 (Magnitude 7,00), and 19 August 2018 (Magnitude 6,9) has caused disruption to these sectors, which particularly affected the tourism sector at most.

Responding to the catastrophes and following the ending of the response phase, as per 31 December 2019 the Government of West Nusa Tenggara Province (NTB) declared the fifth extension of the transition phase of Earthquake Recovery until 31 March 2020. The declaration issued by the Governor of NTB Province following the request from the NTB Province Disaster Management Agency (BPBD NTB) due to remaining constructions works on the housing sector, in which there are 43,972 houses that are still on the progress of reconstruction. The housing construction works are using the On-Call Budget (DSP) which can no longer be used once the transition phase is over. Besides housing, there are still four other sectors that have become priority attention of the Government of NTB which are outlined in their Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Plan (R3), which are: public infrastructure, social, productive economic, and multi-sector. 

Beside Lombok, there are many other regions in Indonesia that also were badly affected by disasters, such as: Aceh which hit by major earthquake and tsunami in 2004 and have multiple earthquake episodes since then, and Bali that is well recognized as one of global tourism destination also severed from the eruption of Mount Agung in 2017

The Impact of Earthquake on Productive Economic Sector of Tourism

Among the affected sectors above, tourism is one of the productive economic sectors that is significantly impacted by the decline of the economic growth in Lombok post-earthquake. The main reason is because of the decreasing of tourists visit to Lombok. According to the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Plan (Rencana Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi/R3) that is developed by the seven earthquake-affected regencies, only five of them that are explicitly mentioned about the impact from earthquake to tourism, as summarized below.

1. Lombok Barat/West Lombok Regency

The earthquake is reported to cause damages in the tourism sub-sector in sum IDR  24,873,440,000 and loss around IDR 55,129,985,000 which the total value of impact from the earthquake reached  IDR 80,003,425, 000. The greatest impact came from the decreasing of tourists stay/occupation in the hotels and other accommodation in sum PIDR 76,248,225,000

2. Lombok Tengah/Centra Lombok Regency

This regency does not report any damages, yet, the loss from the tourism sub-sector reached IDR 16,975,000,000 due to decreasing of tourists visit in the tourism sites down to 16,158 persons (94,63%) compare to the tourist visit on August 2017

3. Lombok Timur/East Lombok Regency

The 2018 earthquake has reduced the number of tourist visits, local and international. Although it did not affect the tourism sector directly, however, a lot of damages happened on the facilities of Rinjani National Park (TNGR).  These damages were estimated reached around IDR 943.600.000,-, with total loss worth for IDR 22.912.766.500,-, The impact of EQ has affected financially in the sum of IDR 1.173.840.000,-

4. Lombok Utara/North Lombok Regency

The values of damages and loss from the 2018 Earthquake in the tourism sector and its supporting sectors reached  66,17% as it is also affected the trade and small and medium scale enterprises sectors with total recovery needs up to IDR 421,500,000,-

5. Mataram/Mataram City 

The affected tourism sector is mostly on building damages that worth up to  IDR 20.027.040.000 and caused the loss of tourism activities worth for  IDR Rp.189.000.000. The total recovery needs is in the sum of IDR 12.273.599.539

6. Sumbawa/Sumbawa Regency

The R3 does not report any damages nor loss in Sub-Sector of Tourism

7. Sumbawa Barat/West Sumbawa Regency

The R3 does not report any damages nor loss in the Sub-Sector of Tourism

The NTB Province Tourism Office admitted that the office is lack of budget in recovering the tourism facilities or even revitalize the tourism sites. The available budget can only be used to promote the non-affected tourism sites, such as for Kuta Mandalika, Selong Belanak, and Village Tourism Program. According to the Ministry of Tourism during the Coordination Meeting for the Acceleration of Tourism Normalization Post NTB EQ on September 2018, the estimated loss from the sector has reached 100 million USD[1]. More specifically, a study on the value chain of the tourism sector in Rinjani areas in East Lombok that was done by UNDP and Gema Alam, show significant loss of income on the Geopark Mount of Rinjani Tourism that reached 400 trillion IDR in the period of July 2018 to August 2019. The community that relied on their livelihood from tourism has to find alternative income from agriculture and trading. The earthquake not just impacted to the decreasing number of tourists visit who was afraid, but also greater damages on the tourism infrastructure across the Geopark Mount of Rinjani that are abandoned.

On 14 June 2019, having realized the needs to recover the community livelihood and reinvigorate the Geopark Mount of Rinjani Tourism, the Government of NTB opened the hiking trail and tracking route in North, Central, and East of Lombok. Yet at this time, the hikers and trackers can only reach the Pelawangan area, due to safety reasons and damages on the facilities above the mountain that has not been repaired. Unfortunately, on 20 October 2019, due to extreme weather, the forests in Rinjani burnt out and left damaged on the 6,055 hectares of the area[2]. Hundreds of hikers were evacuated and once again Geopark Mount of Rinjani is closed for tourism.

The Geopark Mount of Rinjani is not the only site that attracts the tourists, Lombok also has several beaches renowned for their views. Yet, not all beaches are safe for swimming or recreation. The tourists must be extra cautious about any threat of tidal waves. Recent incidents have taken the lives of tourists in Senggigi, Surga, and Ketapak Beaches where they drowned after swept by the wave. Nevertheless, the safety of the tourists is not just the responsibility of the tourists themselves or the tour guides. It becomes the responsibility of the communities in the tourism site or even every one that is on the spots as well.

The Crisis Management on Tourism Towards Disaster

The case in NTB can also be found in other tourism destination sites across Indonesia, with different threats and setting. The Ministry of Tourism responded to the situation by declaring the Regulation Number 10 the Year 2019 on Tourism Crisis Management which is complimentary with the Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) on the Activism of Tourism Crisis Centre (TCC). The regulation explicitly mentions the framework in managing the tourism crisis, which includes: preparedness and mitigation, emergency response, recovery, and normalization. The regulation also regulates the establishment of TCC at national and province levels, under the Ministry and Head of Tourism Office. As a pilot or model for the implementation of this policy is rolled out in three areas tourism destination areas, which are: Riau, West Java, and NTB. The socialization of this regulation in NTB itself has been conducted in Mataram on 19 September 2019.

The NTB Province Government, through Culture and Tourism Office (DISBUDPAR) took a positive response on this policy by preparing the implementation of this project and outlined its targets, include: 1) reducing the impact of disaster, 2) inventory and managing the tourism amenities, 3) inventory and managing the tourism attractions, 4) recovery image through tourism promotion, 5) renovation of amenities and tourist attractions that affected by disasters, 6) development of free taxation for 1 year for the tourism industries, 7) facilitating and monitoring the soft loan for the recovery of tourism amenities and 8) conducting tourism training in improving the quality of tourism human resources in disaster-affected areas.

While in the context of recovery, the NTB DISBUDPAR emphasizes in recovering the tourism sector focusing on human resources and industries, destinations, and marketing. One of the examples of this tourism, recovery is by developing a Recovery Strategy for Affected Tourism Sites. The Recovery Strategy would include the establishment of a tourism recovery team under the NTB Governor, meetings with the General Managers of the hotel in the tourism sites, inventory of damages, problems, and available proper accommodation, recovery of national news on the evacuation process, recovery in promoting the tourism sites, renovation of tourism facilities, and development of post-disaster proposals.

Promotion of Tourism Recovery in Lombok

Beside the program and regulation above, the NTB Province Government also develops a Village Tourism Program in 99 villages starting this year until 2023. The Village Tourism is a concept of rural areas development that offers the natural the setting of the social-economic, social-culture, tradition, custom, building architect and village spatial, economic uniqueness and attraction that has the potential to be developed into various tourisms spots, such as: attraction, accommodation, food courts, and other tourism needs[3]. This program is also one of the NTB Province Government’s strategies in eliminating poverty.

Despite, the fact that the program and policy on tourism crisis management have been applied in NTB, yet the coordination between inter-government agencies at province and municipality levels need to be improved. Tourism crisis management is not just a mandate of the DISPARBUD, it is also involved the role of multi-stakeholder, include a) Disaster Management Office (BPBD) – to raise awareness and tourism preparedness in disaster, b)  Search and Rescue Office (BASARDA) and Local Police Station (POLRES) – to outline the standard safety and security for tourism travels, c) Office for Environmental and Forestry (DLHK) – for environmental protection and tourism green awareness, d) Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG) Mataram Station to implement early warning system on disasters,  e) Village Community Empowerment and Government Office (DPMPD) – to develop a community-based program focusing on empowerment and village resource management for tourism, f) Health Bureau – to promote hygiene, clean water, and sanitation as part of tourism health promotion, and many other agencies with their own specific role and task contributing to tourism management.

Furthermore, The government of NTB is targeting to reach 4,5 million tourists in 2020. In order to reach this number, the Vice Governor of NTB Province, Mrs. Siti Rohmi advised the key success in the tourism sector is by ensuring the Safety, Convenient, Cleanliness, and Hospitality of the communities in NTB[4]. The communities have a front and significant role in improving the tourism sector, not just as beneficiaries, but also as actors. The Government of NTB also needs to improve the communities’ skills and knowledge, as well as strengthen their capacity through creative tourism professions, such as tour guides, local accommodation providers, tourism package services, and others.

In overall, the recovery of the tourism sector in NTB Province needs to be supported not just with the policy and regulation but also involving stakeholder engagement and community ownership. A Tourism Disaster Preparedness Program, such as Tsunami and Earthquake Readiness in Bali can be taken as an example to be implemented by the Government of NTB. With the progressive development in tourism, I strongly believe that NTB can achieve its 4,5 million tourists target, even become one of the world's best tourism destinations.

Note:

For some  information about Lombok Tourism Sites, kindly visit my personal blog in: 

Lombok Utara

http://familygateway.blogspot.com/2020/01/bale-jukung-tropical-hut-cafe-in-lombok.html 

Lombok Barat

http://familygateway.blogspot.com/2019/11/a-business-and-pleasure-trip-to-senggigi.html 

http://familygateway.blogspot.com/2019/09/lombok-halal-tourism-destination.html 

Lombok Utara

http://familygateway.blogspot.com/2019/07/saifana-organic-farm-oasis-in-dry-land.html 

http://yuniarti4drr.blogspot.com/2019/06/chocolate-factory-in-small-village.html  

[1] https://travel.detik.com/travel-news/d-4214277/dampak-gempa-lombok-sektor-pariwisata-alami-kerugian-besar

[2] https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1263018/hari-keempat-kebakaran-gunung-rinjani-seluas-6-000-hektar

[3] http://puspijak.org/uploads/info/v2n1-4DsOt.pdf

[4] Rakor Pariwisata Daerah 2019 dan Sinkronisasi Program Kepariwisataan, 9 October 219