12 Young researchers who are members of the Baribis Fault Expedition team "Towards Earthquake Prepared Villages and Cities", which consists of various scientific backgrounds such as Geology, History, Anthropology, and the documentation team within it. yesterday morning date 13 Mei 2024 starting his journey along the area crossed by the Baribis Fault.
Data states that the Baribis Fault is an active fault that stretches from east to west of the island of Java. The Baribis Fault is the longest fault on the island of Java. This fault crosses south of Indramayu[1], west side of Subang and Purwakarta, Karawang, Cibatu (Bekasi), Depok, Jakarta to Tangerang and Rangkasbitung. The existence of this fault is still a matter of suspicion and is even said to be a major threat to Jakarta.
This fault stretches along 25 Km in South Jakarta. This fault is responsible for the earthquake in 1834 in Bogor with force 7.0 Mw which causes mass destruction in the surrounding area. This fault shifted again this year 1862 and caused a powerful earthquake 6.5 Mw in Karawang Regency
As a country whose geological location is in the regionring of firewhich is very disaster prone, Indonesia is seen as not yet maximizing collective memory and local knowledge as a form of disaster risk reduction. Unwritten knowledge becomes the local wisdom of the community, just a legend, story of mouth, local poetry, song/song, dll.
On this basis, Indonesian scale together School of Strategic and Global Studies, University of Indonesia (SKSG-UI), Association of Indonesian Geologists (IAGI) supported by USAID-KUAT held this investigation with a disaster mitigation research mission calledBaribis Fault Expeditionto the West Java region, including Bekasi, Purwakarta, Sumedang, Majalengka, Subang, Bogor and Depok.
“Tracking through this expedition is very important, because literacy about the history of disasters in Indonesia is spread in various regions, both in the form of oral and written traditions, through ancient texts. And there is still very little information about the history of disasters in Indonesia, which is traced through oral traditions and also written traditions through various existing ancient manuscripts. Especially related to threats in Jakarta, which is suspected to be due to movement of the Baribis fault, there is still very limited information.” This is according to Trinirmalaningrum, Director of Scale Indonesia.
Meanwhile USAID-KUAT expressed its support for the implementation of the Baribis Expedition. “USAID KUAT really supports this activity, and glad that this expedition will be
along urban and rural areas crossed by the Baribis Fault," explained Bill Marsden, Project Director USAID KUAT-Miyamoto International. Marsden also added, that when a large earthquake occurred, it was destructive in 2018 1834 which is thought to be caused by the Baribis Fault, The population of Java Island was still much smaller than it is now. Unfortunately until now, with an increasingly high and dense population, especially in urban areas, Most house developments still do not pay attention to earthquake resistance aspects. as a result, Damage and loss often arise even if the earthquake shock is small. So that, when an earthquake due to the Baribis Fault occurs, The impacts and losses that arise can be very significant.
"Therefore, The Baribis Expedition is very important to find out traces of earthquake disasters in the past, help formulate mitigation strategies in the present, and also increase public knowledge about simple steps that can be taken to be more resilient in facing earthquakes", said Marsden again.
Person in Charge of the Baribis Fault Expedition Team, Trinirmala Ningrum, explain, The Baribis fault was chosen because there is still very little literacy about this fault. Based on several records, people in the areas that the expedition team will traverse have experienced damage due to earthquakes, for example in the Nunuk village area, Majalengka, they still perform various traditional ceremonies, after the earthquake occurred, This is an initial indication that needs to be re-examined, for example, how this collective memory is still maintained.
“Of course the results of this research will be given to the local government, as part and reference to build community awareness in the region, " Said Trinirmala. It must be admitted that so far our approach has been based on developing technology. We forget the most important thing is how to increase literacy in society, especially for efforts to minimize the loss of life caused by the earthquake and tsunami,said Trinirmala
12 Young Researchers Explore the Baribis Fault Route
This Baribis Fault Expedition involves 12 a researcher with a historical background, Sociology, Anthropology and Geology. Later the research team will conduct research in the area thought to be traversed by the Baribis fault. Specifically, the team will also assess the village's resilience in accordance with BNPB Perka Number 1/2012 as well as assessing resilient cities using several indicators set by UNDRR – the UN Agency for Disaster Risk Reduction. This research will be carried out in May.
Whereas, outputfrom the expedition, that is, to make a book, popular article, short videos and documentaries. Which one, This will also be followed by a series of public discussions on disaster knowledge and threats. "We will later advocate the results of this expedition to the government so that it can be used as a consideration in its policy,” he concluded.(THAT)
