Series Of Natural Disasters In The Beginning Of 2021: From Landslides, High Tides, To Earthquakes

Illustration - Map of Indonesia (Photo: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Disasters hit the country in turn in early 2021. There are a number of natural disasters that have occurred and have attracted public attention.

Earlier this year, it started with a landslide in Sumedang that claimed dozens of lives. Then a week later, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 was felt by people in the West Sulawesi region, killing dozens of people.

Most recently, floods and landslides also occurred in the city of Manado which killed 5 people and displaced hundreds of affected residents.

In addition, still in the same location, the community was also shocked by the tidal floods caused by the tidal waves.

1. Floods and landslides in Manado

The high intensity of rain causes floods and landslides in Manado City, North Sulawesi. As many as nine sub-districts and 33 sub-districts in Manado City have been affected by floods and landslides.

This happened due to high intensity rains that flushed since Saturday, January 16, late afternoon and caused the soil structure to become unstable.

As a result of this rain too, flooding was inevitable. The recorded water level reaches 50 to 300 cm.

"This incident resulted in five deaths, one missing person still in search and 500 people displaced who are still in the process of data collection," said Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center, Raditya Jati, in his official statement, Sunday, January 17.

A number of districts affected by this incident include Tikala District, Paal Dua District, Malalayang District, Sario District, Bunaken District, Tuminting District, Mapanget District, Singkil District and Wenang District.

"The Operations Control Center for the National Disaster Management Agency reported material losses, namely two houses were heavily damaged and 10 houses were moderately damaged,"

The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of North Sulawesi Province and Manado City conducted a rapid assessment and evacuation with SAR, TNI / Polri, community and volunteers. In addition, the Manado City BPBD also provided ready-to-eat food assistance to the refugees.

2. The flood of high tide in Manado City

Residents around the coast of Manado panicked because of the big waves that occurred. This panic was also recorded in a video shared by the Instagram account @ndorobeii.

In the video, sea water appears to enter the Manado Town Square (Mantos) mall. "Sea water is overflowing in Mantos Manado," said one person in the video shared on social media.

Regarding the video, a Class II Meteorological Station officer Sam Ratulangi, Manado, Lydia Monika, who was contacted by VOI, delivered an analysis of extreme waves in the waters of North Sulawesi as of 17 January. This data is issued by the Bitung Meteorological Station, North Sulawesi, which has the authority to issue wave analysis and early warning.

In the analysis of the InaWAVE model on January 17, the wave heights in North Sulawesi waters ranged from 2.5 to 4 meters or were included in the Rough Seas category.

"At 19.00 WITA in the waters north of North Sulawesi, there was a tide of 2.3 meters. This resulted in an increase in wave height on the north coast of North Sulawesi, "the Bitung Meteorological Station reported.

Strong winds and high waves will continue until tomorrow, Monday, January 18th and will gradually decline.

Adding to Lydia's statement, Head of the Maritime Meteorology Center of BMKG Eko Prasetyo also stated that the public was asked to be aware of waves 2.5 to 4 meters high in Manado, North Sulawesi. He said the high waves were triggered by the push of ocean wave energy which superposes the tidal phase.

3. Earthquake in West Sulawesi

After being hit by an earthquake measuring magnitude 6.2, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) reported that to date, the death toll from the Mamuju-Majene earthquake, West Sulawesi continues to increase. Until this afternoon at around 14.00 WITA, the reported death toll was 73 people.

"With details of 64 people died in Mamuju Regency and nine people in Majane Regency," said Head of Data, Information and Communication Center for Disaster BNPB Raditya Jati, Sunday, January 17.

In addition, there were 554 injured victims in Majene Regency, with details including 64 seriously injured, 215 moderately injured and 275 slightly injured.

There are 27,850 people displaced in 25 refugee points scattered in Kota Tinggi Village, Lombong Village, Kayu Angin Village, Petabean Village, Deking Village, Mekata Village, Kabumur Village, Lakkading Village, Lembang Village and Limbua Village.

Meanwhile, in Mamuju District, 189 people suffered serious injuries or were hospitalized and there were five evacuation points in Mamuju and Simboro districts.

Furthermore, there are emergency services at 3 hospitals that are currently active in Mamuju Regency, namely Bhayangkara Hospital, West Sulawesi Provincial Regional Hospital, and Mamuju District Hospital.

BPBD Majene Regency, Mamuju Regency and Polewali Mandar Regency continue to collect data and coordinate with the TNI - Polri, Basarnas and volunteers and other agencies in the evacuation process of the affected community.

4. Floods in South Kalimantan

Floods still hit several areas of South Kalimantan. As of January 16 yesterday, based on data submitted by the Head of the BNPB Operations Control Center, Bambang Surya Putra, the flood had displaced 112,709 residents, while 27,111 houses were submerged and claimed five lives.

Floods in South Kalimantan occurred in a number of areas, namely Banjar Regency, Tapin Regency, Banjar Baru City, Tabalong Regency, Balangan Regency, Hulu Sungai Tengah Regency and Tanah Laut City.

Floods in Banjar Regency caused 51,362 people to evacuate and 14,791 houses were submerged. Floods in Tapin District caused 1,777 people to be affected and displaced, and 112 houses submerged.

The flood in Banjar Baru City caused 622 people to be affected and evacuated, and 296 houses were submerged. The flood in Tabalong Regency caused 180 people to be affected and evacuated, and 92 houses submerged.

Floods in Balangan District caused 11,816 people to be affected and displaced, and 3,571 houses submerged, while in Hulu Sungai Tengah Regency, five people were killed and 11,200 residents were displaced, and 64,400 residents were affected.

Floods in Tanah Laut City caused 27,024 people affected and displaced, and 8,249 houses submerged.

Regarding the flood disaster, the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) said that the narrowing of forest areas in the past 10 years is one of the causes.

Land cover data shows that from 2010 to 2020 there was a decrease in the area of primary forest, secondary forest, rice fields and shrubs, respectively 13 thousand hectares (ha), 116 thousand ha, 146 thousand ha and 47 thousand ha in South Kalimantan.

Meanwhile, the plantation area in that region, according to the data on land cover changes, has an area of up to 219 thousand ha.

"Changes in land cover in the past 10 years can provide an overview of the possibility of flooding in the Barito watershed. So that it can be used as an input to support future flood disaster mitigation efforts," said M Rokhis Khomaruddin, Head of the Center for Remote Sensing Utilization of LAPAN. , January 17th.

Apart from the narrowing of the forest, another factor is the high rainfall. This is known based on the Himawari-8 satellite data which shows that rain-producing clouds occurred from 12 to 13 January 2021 and still lasted until 15 January 2021 in the South Kalimantan region.

"This rainfall is one of the causes of floods that hit South Kalimantan Province on January 13, 2021," said Rokhis.

5. Landslides in Sumedang

It occurred at 16.00 WIB, Saturday, January 9, until as of Sunday, January 17, there were 29 victims of landslides in Cimanggung, Sumedang, West Java who were found by the joint team and 11 people were still missing.

"The injured victims included 22 minor injuries and three serious injuries," said the Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center Raditya Jati in an official statement on Sunday, January 17.

The joint team used four heavy equipment in the process of evacuating victims over the next few days. However, this evacuation is still hampered by rainy weather and the need to watch out for subsequent landslides. This is because, as informed by the Geological Agency, there are still cracks at several landslide locations.

As a result of this incident, temporary data compiled by BNPB recorded that there were 1,020 refugees who were divided in the IDPs in Taman Burung Field and their relatives' houses that were safe from potential landslides.

In addition, the Regent of Sumedang, Dony Ahmad Munir, has stipulated a 21-day Flood and Landslide Emergency Response which is valid from 9 to 29 January 2021.

Furthermore, the Sumedang Regency BPBD Operations Control Center continues to carry out visual observation and monitoring through radio communications, internet and cellphones. In addition, BMKG has also installed a landslide Early Warning System (EWS).