Floods in the Covid-19 Period: Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management

 
Cibinong, LIPI. Indonesia has 5,590 main rivers and 600 of them have the potential to cause flooding. The flood-prone areas that include these main rivers reach 1.4 million hectares. “Flood is one of the routine disasters that always hits various regions in Indonesia. The impact is very heavy for society. Especially in this pandemic era, floods will make things worse. Floods will reduce people's ability to comply with health protocols to prevent transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, "said the Head of LIPI, Laksana Tri Handoko when opening the regional webinar" Floods in the Covid 19 Period: Preparedness, Mitigation and Disaster Management on Wednesday (9/9) .

He added, LIPI is trying to develop new protocols and mitigation for flood disasters amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Through multidisciplinary research, LIPI seeks to provide alternative solutions to solve the flood problem. "LIPI opens opportunities for research collaboration, utilizes joint research facilitation and is committed to continuously increasing related resources from all sides and providing policy recommendations related to this issue," explained Handoko.

Meanwhile, the Director of River Flow Planning and Evaluation, Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHKHut), M. Saparis Sudaryanto, emphasized the need to re-identify the natural character of Indonesia. "Currently, there are more and more flash floods found in the upstream area. This shows the inability of land due to indifference to human behavior towards the environment. The slightest deviation occurs, nature will look for a new stability and a disaster occurs. For this reason, KLHKHut pays close attention to natural aspects and human behavior in flood disaster management programs, "said Saparis.

On the other hand, Expert Staff of the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) for Development Integration, Achmad Gani Ghazaly Akman explained, currently PUPR continues to improve the capability of the flood early warning system with the BMKG. "With a relatively accurate weather forecast accuracy to improve monitoring of water capacity, including strengthening a complete big data analysis of disaster management," he explained.

On the same occasion, the Executive Director of the Asia Pacific Center for Ecohydrology - UNESCO Category II Center (APCE - UNESCO C2C), Ignasius Dwi Atmana Sutapa explained, several main factors that cause flooding, namely high rainfall due to climate change, reduced water catchment areas, changes land use, inadequate waterways and the behavior of people who do not care about the environment. Not only that, various obstacles are also faced in dealing with flood disaster problems including: decentralization policy, sub-optimal resource management and overlapping authority between sectors and levels. "The low coordination between related parties in an effort to deal with the flood problem is also the cause of the difficulty in overcoming this problem. If a flood occurs during a pandemic, the problem will become more complex, both related to physical distance, it will be more difficult to do and lack of clean water, "said Ignas.

In addition, M. Fakhrudin, Limnology Researcher also highlighted the need for management of the Ciliwung watershed to reduce flooding. He explained that DAS functions as a hydrological system. The condition of the watershed in Ciliwung is getting more and more critical every year. Moreover, the potential for flooding from the upstream area is increasing in quantity. Changes in land use due to urbanization in Jabotabek, especially in Bekasi and Bogor, have exacerbated flooding. "In principle, rainwater must be infused as much as possible, thereby reducing river flow and increasing groundwater reserves massively. The role of the government with the zero run off concept has supported this direction. This is an opportunity for the local government and the community to collaborate in doing something small, but the effect is very broad, for example by making infiltration wells in every resident's house. Not only that, the improvement of forest functions also needs to be controlled, including the preservation of there for flood control, "he added.

Head of the Ciliwung Cisadane River Basin (BBWSCC), Bambang Hidayah also said that currently the concept of flood mitigation in Jabodetabek is divided into upstream, middle and downstream parts. "The upstream concept is carried out with reforestation activities, management of reservoirs, dams and dams. The middle concept is to build potential pools and infiltration wells and requires community participation. Meanwhile, the downstream concept is carried out by building embankments, sedimentation traps and river normalization, "he said.

Dudi Gardesi Asikin, Secretary of the DKI Jakarta Water Resources Agency also added that the principle of flood control in Jakarta is the revitalization of polders, construction / upgrading of pumps, construction of reservoirs / situ / reservoirs upstream, construction of river embankments, construction of river catchments. "Routine activities of dredging, draining, building infiltration wells. In addition, there is a mud duck program, ”he explained.