Based on data from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), there were 42 natural disasters in Depok City, West Java throughout 2022 consisting of floods (18 incidents), landslides (12 incidents), tornadoes (7 incidents), fires (3 events), and earthquakes (2 events). This shows that Depok City is one of the regions in Indonesia that is vulnerable to natural disasters.
This disaster had caused material losses amounting to IDR 12.5 billion and affected around 15,000 people. Based on the Indonesian Disaster Prone Index (IRBI) released by BNPB in 2019, Depok City is included in the regional category with a moderate level of disaster risk with an IRBI value of 0.32. This IRBI value shows that Depok City has quite high disaster potential and requires better mitigation efforts.
Against this background, the Community Service team of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) Universitas Indonesia (UI) in collaboration with the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI) Depok City held an activity entitled “Disaster Mitigation Education Program Workshop in the Depok City Mosque Area, West Java” at the MUI Depok City Building on Saturday, October 7th 2023.
Kevin Naufal Muhammad, head of the service team who is a Geology Study Program student, said that this activity aims to increase disaster literacy for the Depok City Mosque Prosperity Council (DKM) administrators so that they can be at the forefront in providing disaster education to the pilgrims and local residents. A total of 58 participants who are part of Depok City DKM administrators took part in this activity which received funding support from the Directorate of Student Affairs at the Universitas Indonesia.
“The natural disaster that occurred in Depok City not only caused physical and material impacts, but also psychological and social impacts for the affected communities. Therefore, preventive and mitigative efforts are needed to reduce the risk of natural disasters in Depok City,” said Kevin.
Workshop activities were divided into two sessions. The first session consisted of educational activities about disasters delivered through interactive discussions by academics and practitioners. In this session, the team provided material about scientific disasters and how to mitigate them. Meanwhile, the second session is evaluation. In this session, the team evaluated the participants’ level of understanding of the disaster material that had been presented through a questionnaire that had been filled out by each participant.
FMIPA UI Geology Lecturer, Urwatul Wusqa, M.T., was present as a speaker to deliver a presentation entitled Natural and Human Disasters. According to him, Depok City is an area that is quite vulnerable to disasters, especially landslides, floods and tornadoes. The flood disaster in the Depok City area had the highest percentage of incidents, namely 38 percent with a total of 12,383 victims and 28 damages based on BNPB data for 2007 – 2021.
In line with Urwatul, disaster expert in the Geography department of FMIPA UI, Dr. Triarko Nurlambang revealed that according to the 2022 IRBI book, the risk index for Depok City is in the medium class. This indicates that there is still the potential for a disaster that could occur at any time in Depok City. According to him, increasing community capacity can reduce the disaster risk index. Apart from that, it is important to create synergy between the government, elements of society, and educational institutions in efforts to overcome disaster problems in Indonesia.
Full support for this community service activity was also conveyed by the Dean of FMIPA UI, Prof. Dede Djuhana, Ph.D. “As FMIPA UI academics, we have a moral obligation and responsibility to society, namely developing the capacity and quality of life of the community, one of which is through this workshop activity,” said Prof. Dede. He hoped that this program will be implemented sustainably and will be carried out in other places, considering the importance of disaster literacy which has become a national program. Chairman of DMI Depok City, Eko Waludi, M.Si., thanked the UI service team for carrying out this activity.
“We must implement the function of the mosque as in the time of the Prophet, namely that the mosque is not only a place of worship for the mahdhah, but also a center for activities that bring benefit, one of which is educating the public about disasters,” he said.
