Ten years ago if asked to describe what a disaster preparedness and risk reduction programme was, the Indonesian villagers in Sepa Batu community of West Sulawesi would probably have difficulty doing so.
Back then, a comparatively small number of people showed interest in volunteering because they had little knowledge of what the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) did in their communities. The local PMI branch office had very limited resources with only one officer and little financial support from the local government.
Today though, villagers’ understanding and attitudes towards the Red Cross and disaster management have changed for the better. The villagers in Sepa Batu have now actively become involved with disaster management, especially since PMI and the Danish Red Cross (DRC) jointly implemented the Community Based Disaster Preparedness (CBDP) programme in 2003.
Dahlan Palla, PMI board member of the Polewali branch, says, “After the launch of CBDP, community members are increasingly aware of the roles of PMI. PMI’s image with the government has also increased during the past two years.”
Sepa Batu is a coastal community in Polewali province and is bordered by the Mandar River and Mandar Sea.
“Flooding is a common problem in our community,” says Abdur Rahim, a Sepa Batu community leader. “Previously, when floods occurred we either found our own way to deal with the effects or just moved out. There were not any prevention measures.” He adds that many villagers decided to leave the village and moved to other towns where they do not have to suffer from annual floods.
Part of the land in Sepa Batu is utilized as farmland, and other parts are seashore. Most of the community members are fishermen, farmers, and state officials. The community experienced two disastrous floods in 1987 and 1999, and since then floods have become more frequent every year. Besides the floods, coastal erosion has posed a serious problem to Sepa Batu villagers.
Although they created wooden dikes filled with stones, the dikes were quickly ruined by increased seawater levels. The local government also attempted to make gravel dikes filled with sacks, but these too were swept away when the floods came.
To alleviate a problem of land erosion, some 4,000-5,000 mangrove trees were planted along the coastal area of Sepa Batu. “The villagers can benefit a lot from the mangrove plantation,” said Abdur. “This mangrove forest will help increase their livelihood and generate more income because it holds moisture that helps shrimp and plants to live.”
Currently, community members are not well aware that the coastal erosion problem is related the global climate change.
“We’ve tried to inform them about environmental changes in our community and why the mangrove forest is needed,” notes Abdur. “It’s hard to convince the villagers. They have little knowledge. But we will work harder to educate them how useful the mangroves are to us.”
A 12-year-old-girl, Yuliani used to play along the beach with her friends but now gradually learns the importance of the mangrove forest. “We were told that these mangroves will help protect our community from a big wave,” smiled Yuliani. “So now we help maintain the newly-planted mangrove by not running on the beach here.”
Asked about the future plans, a Sepa Batu community leader replies: “We now plan to target schools for knowledge dissemination. We want to increase awareness among school teachers and villagers to help them know what to do and not to help reduce disaster risk.”
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Ten years ago if asked to describe what a disaster preparedness and risk reduction programme was, the Indonesian villagers in Sepa Batu community of West Sulawesi would probably have difficulty doing so. (p16871)
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A 12-year-old-girl, Yuliani used to play along the beach with her friends but now gradually learns the importance of the mangrove forest. “We were told that these mangroves will help protect our community from a big wave,” smiled Yuliani. “So now we help maintain the newly-planted mangrove by not running on the beach here.” (p16874)
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Currently, community members are not well aware that the coastal erosion problem is related the global climate change. (p16875)
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