Tsunami as “Guru”: What Indonesia must learn from Palu-Donggala incident
After facing the last huge Tsunami fourteen years ago, Indonesia once again was struck by this type of maritime disaster and a great earthquake few days ago. This time, Palu-Donggala is its most devastated victim. According to Indonesian National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB), as of October 2, there are 1,234 people died and 799 people heavily injured. 59. 450 people also reported being displaced internally according to the Coordinating Ministry for Security and Political Affairs. The relevant authority also noted that there are 114 foreign citizens who are waiting to be evacuated from Palu-Donggala. These citizens come from various countries including Singapore, Belgium, South Korea, France, Spain, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Germany, and Swiss.
The latest Tsunami does not only cause losses for Indonesia, but also teach us a critical lesson which in this case is maritime disaster awareness. Maritime disaster awareness becomes important for Indonesia at least on two grounds. First, Indonesia is inevitably located in the Pacific Rim of Fire and above three active tectonic plates, including Pacific Plate, Eurasia Plate, and Indo-Australia Plate. These make none of Indonesian principal islands is truly safe from any earthquake as well as Tsunami. BNPB in 2012 even stated that 233 regions in Indonesia are quite vulnerable to this maritime disaster. Second, maritime disaster awareness is also very essential for our journey to be the Global Maritime Fulcrum (GMF). If we pay attention to the blueprint, maritime disaster awareness is actually related with three pillars of it namely, marine and human resource development; naval defense, maritime security, and safety at sea; and maritime economy, infrastructure, and welfare. Therefore, maritime disaster awareness is actually an imperative for Indonesia in the immediate future.
The latest Tsunami obviously demands Indonesia to accelerate our effort in fulfilling the minimum threshold of national maritime disaster awareness. This threshold supposedly consists of four main components. First among all is the awareness of communities living in the coastal regions. Apparently, majority of these communities are not really aware with two crucial things as follows: potential maritime disasters that may strike them any time, and how they need to act during the incident. In overcoming this, the government should accelerate the implementation of national curriculum concerning disaster management and formalize the schedule of Tsunami drills more regular, particularly in the coastal regions. Second, the technology related to maritime disaster early warning system, such as deep-ocean tsunami detection buoys. According to BNPB, Indonesia only 22 tsunami-detection buoys across 6. 135. 222 km2of its waters. Unfortunately, all of them did not function anymore since 2012 due to the lack of funding.
In tackling these issues, the government in the very first place should appoint a national maritime agency to specifically safeguard the tsunami buoys after fixing processes have been carried out. The government also needs to consider enhancing human resources who are responsible for taking care of its tsunami-buoys. Third, resiliency of infrastructure. The latest tsunami reportedly damaged a lot of vital infrastructures in Palu, namely the city’s icon, Ponulele Bridge, Anutapura Hospital, seven main electrical substations, telecommunication network, and water treatment plants. Each of these has caused its own challenge. For example, damaged over telecommunication network led to complication in distributing urgent information or communicating with people in certain areas, while fallen bridge generated difficulties in mobilizing immediate assistance to the affected regions. Learning from this incident, the government should review, and if possible strengthen, the resiliency of vital infrastructures in all vulnerable regions to disasters, particularly in the coastal regions.
Fourth is concerning research on maritime disaster management. According to Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), this agency has developed around 18,000 tsunami scenarios that may occur in Indonesia. However, these scenarios will not have fruitful meanings, if tsunami management scenarios do not follow it. Tsunami management scenarios that may potentially be developed in the future should firstly identify capabilities and assets of each government agency in managing this maritime disaster. Following this, it is also necessary to locate where potential crisis centers will be established in case of a maritime disaster happens, as well as outlining possible strategies on aid distribution to the potential affected regions. All in all, the latest Tsunami must become a “Guru”for determining Indonesian national interests in the context of its foreign policy.
Previously, our government has snatched a great achievement back in 2017 by initiating the Archipelagic and Island States Forum (AIS) which has more than 20 participating countries around the world. However, the next thing to do is inserting “maritime-disaster awareness” to the agenda. Two reasons strengthen this proposal as follows: 1) the forum still dominantly focuses on climate change impacts and marine plastic debris issues; and 2) archipelagic and island states by nature will concern upon all maritime disasters, such as Tsunami.
Other than AIS, Indonesia obviously must also bring “maritime-disaster awareness” to ASEAN as it is its foreign policy’s cornerstone, Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), Pacific Island Forums (PIF), and other regional organizations. By making “maritime-disaster awareness” as our national interest, hopefully, Indonesia will reap potential benefits from external cooperation that may boost its internal capacities in dealing with all maritime disasters. Not only that, if Indonesia succeeds doing this, it may give a chance for Indonesia to revitalize its leadership at the regional level.
