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EDITORIAL: Growing landslide menace
The landslide-prone regions are home to 40.9 million people; 17 percent of them will be directly affected if a disaster strikes.
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A gravesite is prepared in Songan village for seven landslide victims on Monday, February 13, 2017. JP/ Anggara Mahendra (JP/Anggara Mahendra)
W
hile condolences go out to those who lost their loved ones and humanitarian assistance reaches the hundreds of survivors of the weekend landslide in the East Java regency of Ponorogo, increasing our knowledge about such deadly natural disasters and how to mitigate them is actually the most urgent necessity.
The Ponorogo landslide, which as of Monday had left two people dead and at least 27 others missing, buried somewhere in the mud that swamped their homes in Banaran village, reads like a chapter from a book. As a stand-alone incident the Ponorogo disaster offers much to learn from, but without reading the entire book we will be unable to help those living in disaster-prone areas to protect themselves.
As National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) data reveals, 274 regencies and cities across the country are vulnerable to landslides, albeit at different levels, which range from medium to high. The landslide-prone regions are home to 40.9 million people; 17 percent of them will be directly affected if a disaster strikes.
The data gives more cause for concern as those who live under the constant danger include 488,000 infants, 386,000 elderly people and 39,000 people with disabilities.
Over the last few years the agency has publicized the data as well as mitigation efforts with the regional governments in question to better protect their populations. Among the measures to minimize the impact of the disasters is educating people about early-warning mechanisms and, as a last resort, relocation.
But as happened in Ponorogo and previously in the West Sumatra regency of Limapuluh Koto early last month, early-warning systems and mitigation efforts did not work properly. BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said many people living in landslide-prone areas ignored the agency’s landslide forecast data as guidance for their daily activities.
It should be the responsibility of regional governments, given their authority over all residents within their jurisdictions, rather than the disaster agency, to ensure the mitigation measures are implemented in the field. The BNPB can only provide strategies and facilitate training and drills but they will all be for naught without the active role of regional governments.
