Three south Java villages getting tsunami ready
Three villages in South Java Indonesia, Tambakrejo Village (East Java), Kemadang and Glagah (Yogyakarta) are implementing the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme (TRRP).
With the advocacy of UNESCO-IOC Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre (IOTIC), the support and facilitation of the Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG), and the Local Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), these villages implemented the 12 Tsunami Ready Indicators of UNESCO-IOC.
Although we have been working on the Disaster Resilient Village (Desa Tangguh Bencana – DESTANA) programme for several years, with a Multi-hazard approach, the implementation of these 12 UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Indicators help us to understand the tsunami hazard in our area better, and to focus more on tsunami preparedness. (Daldio, Head of Disaster Risk Reduction Forum of Kemadang Village)
The UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition programme is under the UN Decade for Ocean Science. It aims at supporting the Societal Outcome of Safe Ocean with 100% of communities at risk of tsunami prepared for and resilient to tsunamis by 2030, through the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready or other similar initiatives. The implementation of the programme in Indonesia is guided by the National Tsunami Ready Board (NTRB). Indonesia aims to have 7 villages recognized as UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Community by the end of this year.
The Tanjung Benoa community in Bali was inaugurated as UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Community during the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in May 2022. This August, the IOTIC and BMKG, representing the NTRB, visited three villages (Tambakrejo Village, Kemadang, and Glagah) to review and verify their achievement of the 12 UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Indicators.
We have been working on these 12 indicators since 2021, immediately after BMKG introduced us of the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme during the BMKG’s Sekolah Lapang Gempa – SLG activity (Earthquake Field School activity) in our village. (Nanot, member of the Disaster Risk Reduction Forum of Tambakrejo Village)
The Forum Pengurangan Risiko Bencana – FPRB (Village Disaster Risk Reduction Forum) is responsible for the tsunami preparedness of the village. As a follow up of the verification visit, under the leadership of the head of village, the FPRB will complete the application form with all the supporting documents and evidence to be submitted to the NTRB. Upon receiving the complete application, UNESCO-IOC will review and give the recognition, should everything be in accordance with the requirements.
Each of the three villages is unique and we can learn a lot from them in terms of tsunami preparedness. The Tambakrejo village, although surrounded by hills, has a low land area that can be inundated by the tsunami as far as 2 km. The Kemadang village is a very hilly area with beautiful beaches attracting many local and domestic visitors, which can be a challenge for the evacuation process. As to the the Glagah village, their emergency response and evacuation plan are interesting, as the village is located next to the newly developed Yogyakarta International Airport (IOTIC verification team).
IOTIC and the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWMS) will organize an Indian Ocean Tsunami Ready Symposium by the end of November 2022 to share the learned lessons and good practices of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Ready Communities. In addition to Tanjung Benoa in Indonesia, two other communities in India, Venkatraipur and Noliasahi in Odisha State, were recognized as UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Community in 2020.