In the first two weeks of 2021, the country has already been dealing with the devastating aftermath of an airplane crash, a landslide and an earthquake.

On the very same day that news broke about the sudden disappearance of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 off the coast of Jakarta on Saturday, a series of landslides in Sumedang, West Java wreaked havoc and devastated dozens of families, with at least 16 dead and 23 more still missing.

 

Even before the airplane took off and plunged into the sea with 62 people on board mere minutes later, the flight was delayed for about an hour due to heavy rain. The real cause of the crash is still under investigation.

The cause of the Sumedang landslides, however, was more straightforward.

Following heavy rainfall that began in the afternoon, the first landslide occurred at around 4 p.m. when a 20-meter cliff in Cihanjuang village in Sumedang regency’s Cimanggung district collapsed and buried 14 houses beneath it. When a search-and-rescue team was evacuating victims from the houses, another landslide occurred at 6:30 p.m. at the same location, killing several members of the team.

Barely a week later, at least 34 people were killed and large buildings including a hotel collapsed when a 6.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Sulawesi on Friday, AFP reported. The epicenter was 36 kilometers south of Mamuju, the capital of West Sulawesi, and the quake had a depth of 18 kilometers, the United States Geological Survey said.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) prevention division deputy head Lilik Kurniawan said the COVID-19 pandemic had posed challenges to the state in mitigating disasters.

In April, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo signed a decree stipulating that efforts to mitigate the outbreak were to be led by the national COVID-19 task force in cooperation with regional administrations, ministries and national agencies. The decree has become the legal basis to grant the BNPB a greater degree of authority and flexibility in disaster mitigation.

“Of course we have less time because most of our time is spent dealing with COVID-19,” Lilik said, adding that the agency now had to rely on the community to prepare themselves what to do if disasters occurred.

However, he said the bigger problem was whether local leaders had made disaster prevention their priority by ensuring that any spatial planning processes account for the risk of flooding and landslides.

As online meetings have become the new normal, he said he did not get to freely visit the regions to educate the masses and coordinate with local authorities. “We coordinate with the regional agency offices [BPPD] and make them representatives of the central government that are tasked with most of the work but with guidance from Jakarta,” he said.

Authorities have issued public warnings about the onset of extreme weather at the beginning of the year, with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicting that the peak of the rainy season will occur in January and February.

The extreme conditions have the potential to impact hydrometeorological disasters caused by meteorological and climate events, such as floods, hurricanes and landslides, as well as thunderstorms and tidal waves, all of which are dangerous for shipping and aviation activities.

The BMKG also warned of the potential for flooding with medium to high intensity for the next 10 days. The agency also predicted that the rainy season would last until April.

BMKG deputy for meteorology Guswanto said he forecast extreme weather in the next few days across Indonesia, especially in most of Sumatra, in Bangka Belitung, in most of Java, in Bali, West and East Nusa Tenggara, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua.

The BNPB said that based on his team’s analysis, Banjarnegara, Central Java was also another region that must be put on high alert for landslides, while Semarang, Purworejo and Banyumas in Central Java, as well as Lamongan and Gresik in East Java must also watch out for possible floods.

Heavy rain on Tuesday has already caused floods in a number of places including Langsa city in Aceh, South Solok regency in West Sumatra, and in Banjar regency in South Kalimantan.

Situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where the earth’s tectonic plates collide and result in massive earthquakes and volcanic activity, most of the Indonesian archipelago is prone to natural disasters. As a tropical meeting point between two oceans, it is also exposed to regular bouts of extreme weather events during the wet monsoon season.

This has made it difficult for disaster preparedness and mitigation efforts to be carried out effectively across the country.

Lilik estimated that of all disasters in Indonesia over the years, 90 percent were hydrometeorological disasters. According to BNPB records between January and Dec. 11 last year, there were 2,779 incidents recorded in Indonesia. Of this figure, some 1,015 of them were floods, followed by 842 tornadoes and 535 landslides. As many as 224 people were killed, with 26 missing and 271 injured, while as many as 4.19 million people were affected and displaced.

With the onset of the pandemic, which has limited mobility and ushered in a regime of strict health protocols to prevent wider transmission, disaster response personnel already have their work cut out for them.

Disaster studies expert from Gadjah Mada University Djati Mardiatno said the COVID-19 pandemic was another challenge in disaster response, where evacuation shelters must implement strict health protocols and authorities had to conduct testing and tracing to anticipate the possible spread of the coronavirus.

“This is indeed a challenge in emergency management, and there has to be a guideline for those involved so that they can implement health protocols in the midst of a pandemic. We don't want evacuation shelters to become clusters,” he said.

Indonesia on Wednesday yet again recorded its highest number of COVID-19 deaths in a single day, with 306 people reported to have died from the virus as the healthcare system is on the brink of collapsing. It also reported a record 12,818 new cases on Friday, bringing the total tally of confirmed cases to 882,418. Total deaths stood at 25,484 as of Friday.