Panggarangan Village with the South Lebak Mitigation Group Become the First Village in Banten to Conduct UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Community Field Verification

(Doc. GMLS)

BANTEN – The South Lebak Mitigation Group (Gugus Mitigasi Lebak Selatan/GMLS) hosted the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Community Field Verification activity and the National Tsunami Preparedness Committee on Wednesday (14/09/2022) and Thursday (15/09/2022) at the Panggarangan Village Hall. Panggarangan village became the first village in Banten to seek a tsunami-ready indicator. This was stated by the Professional Officer for DRRTIU and Head of IOC-UNESCO, Ardito M. Kodijat.

“Panggarangan Village is the first village in Banten that seeks the Tsunami Ready indicator and includes progress in developing its indicators,” Ardito said on Wednesday (14/9). 

Furthermore, Ardito added that the main objective of this activity is to achieve community preparedness in tsunami-prone areas if a tsunami occurs at any time. “The main objective of this Field Verification is for the community to be prepared, ready, and responsive to the Tsunami. The Tsunami Ready Community Certificate for Recognition from the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) is just a sweetener,” Ardito said.

Sub-district Head of Panggarangan, Ahmad Faidlullah, in his speech, expressed his appreciation for the initiative from the community for disaster mitigation. 

“I appreciate the community that the they are willing and in good faith attend the socialization, and participate in the preparation of the community to face disasters, especially the Tsunami,” Ahmad said.

Secretary of Panggarangan Village, Sahria, said that Panggarangan Village incredibly supports disaster mitigation activities in the village. “From the village government, we are very supportive, we are also allocating a budget in the village for this Tsunami Disaster Mitigation activity,” Sahria said.

(Doc. GMLS)

Suwardi, the Head of the Geophysics Station of the Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Council (Badan Meteologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika/BMKG) Tangerang Class I, expressed his hope regarding the broader dissemination of disaster literacy. 

“After this verification is completed, we hope that the BMKG, the educated community, have updated disaster information that can be distributed to all residents, spread throughout the environment in Panggarangan Village,” said Suwardi. 

In addition, collaborators who contributed to the achievement of tsunami-ready indicators, which became the standard for assessing the tsunami preparedness community, were also present. The collaborators consist of various organizations, such as BMKG, National Board for Disaster Management, National Research and Innovation Agency, Uinspire, UMN, Bandung Institute of Technology, Radio Between Indonesian Residents, ID Flow Stories, BSI Maslahat, Dompet Dhuafa Disaster Management Center, IOF, KidzSmile Foundation, PLN Peduli, Biner Dev, Indonesian Nasional Navy Army Banten, RTBD Panggarangan, Radar Banten, Sky Volunteer, Zenit, PREDIKT, Military Regional Command III/Siliwangi, and Indonesian Surveyors.

On the first day of the event, participants discussed indicators 1-8, which include the Assessment and Preparedness stages. Meanwhile, on the second day, participants discussed indicators 9-12, which included the Response and Field Visit stages in Panggarangan Village.

In order to increase the preparedness and awareness of the coastal communities against the earthquake and tsunami disaster, Panggarangan Village, located in the Panggarangan District, Lebak Regency – Banten, is one of the communities proposed by the National Tsunami Ready Board to obtain a Certificate of Recognition of Tsunami Ready Community from the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO).

From the document verification results related to the Tsunami Ready indicator, Ardito explained that Panggarangan Village is actively developing two indicators to become two essential points that can be appreciated.

“I found weak indicators in other areas but here the indicators are very strong,” Ardito shared.

By Zalfa Azhar Qathrunnada & Carolyn Nathasa Dharmadhi

Editor: Maria Advenita Gita Elmada

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

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