Residents Of Sawoo Ponorogo Asked To Beware Of Liquidity Disasters

The BPBD team while reviewing the location of the liquefaction in Jebug Hamlet, Tumpakpelem Village, Ponorogo. (ANTARA/HO - BPBD Ponorogo)

PONOROGO - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Ponorogo Regency, East Java, appealed to residents around Tumpakpelem Village, Sawoo District, to be aware of the potential for further land disasters such as new local rice fields.

"We urge the public to remain vigilant and anticipate when there is a potential for disaster in the area," said Head of Emergency and Logistics BPBD Ponorogo, Surono, quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, May 7.

The warning was conveyed following the incident of ground movement in the rice fields on the siring terrace of Dukuh Jabag, Tumpakpelem Village, which caused at least two rice fields to collapse and be dragged by the ground.

The incident that occurred on Thursday (4/5) this morning was recorded by residents and then went viral on social media.

There were no casualties, but the natural disaster of the movement ground caused the rice fields to be peeling down to 50 meters long. This made residents wary. Moreover, the cracked soil that appeared around the ground was observed to be up to 150 meters wide as 5 meters wide.

According to Surono, the natural phenomenon is called liquefaction, where conditions when the soil experiences saturation or loss of strength due to not being able to hold water.

This is not the first time this has happened. The same thing happened about 40 years ago. However, after the first incident there was sedimentation and by residents it was used as a rice field area.

"There are water sources that enter the ground, because water enters, causing a saturation point," he explained

From the results of field monitoring, the area of land affected by liquefaction reaches 50 meters with a crack length of about 150 meters and a landslide crown of 5 meters.

As a result of this incident, he said, there were two affected rice fields, namely Gimun's heavily damaged about 20 square meters and Marsid's 700 square meters.

"It's not too steep, it's possible that there is only a ground movement, it's still far from residential areas," he said.

For this phenomenon, his party has reported to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) as an evaluation and note material.

He appealed to the surrounding community to remain alert to any potential disasters. Especially during the high rainfall that is still happening today.