We can still see gaping cracks in the ground with large dimensions in Bah Village, district. Ketol, Central Aceh. These cracks are the remains of a landslide that buried part of Bah Village shortly after a large earthquake rocked this area ten years ago. Ricefield, garden, House, even lives were buried by the landslide. The six magnitude earthquake made a big impression on the residents of Bah Village. The disaster forced them to move and live their lives with the threat of earthquakes and landslides.
That morning was so bright, steep cliff, rows of hills and expanses of rice fields come together to present a beautiful, unified view. But it always makes us remember sad things ten years ago. The memories of the people of Bah Village about the enormity of the earthquake always come to mind when we cross the bridge under which the Peusangan River flows. Right on the right, You can see the cliffs left by the landslide, empty houses and the remains of buildings still occupied by residents.
After approx 10 minutes via the winding road from the bridge, we arrived at Kampung Mahabbah, that's the name of the village that the people pinned to replace their old village. There we began to see the activity of residents driving back and forth carrying chili seeds to plant in gardens. There are also those who walk carrying sacks to harvest coffee or other agricultural products.
The village office became a place where we smiled at each other and talked about the disaster. That morning, Wednesday 13/07/2023 We are back together with residents to continue the series of programs "Develop Community Led on Disaster Risk Management”. This program is an initiation of the Indonesian Scale Foundation which is supported by PT. Mandala Multifinance Tbk.
Different from previous meetings, This time we came to facilitate Bah Village residents in making earthquake contingency plans. We establish dialogue and discussions about disasters, disaster cycle and also disaster risk in this village. then we explain what a contingency plan is and also the principles and how to make one.
Their strong memories of earthquake disasters facilitate the process of making contingency plans. Because residents can easily imagine scenarios if an earthquake occurs and can also imagine the impact. Armed with these two things, Residents can plan the actions that must be taken in response to the emergency response phase of an earthquake disaster.
The next day, on 14/07/2023 We continue the process of making contingency plans by creating a disaster emergency response command post structure. The community representatives present were then divided into several groups to map the human resources and equipment owned by the village. This is done to facilitate the handling of disaster emergency response if a disaster occurs. So that people can use existing resources to the maximum.
On the last day, Friday 15/07/2023 All participants again discussed and agreed on the main tasks and functions of each of the Bah Village disaster emergency response command structures that had been created. Accompanied by laughter in between serious discussions, it makes the discussions very exciting. The discussion continued by discussing the flow of activating the emergency response command post. This flow was created to facilitate citizens' understanding of the communication flow, coordination and implementation of emergency response operations.
After all the discussion series are finished, All participants practice what has been created and learned by doing exercises table top exercise, or Indoor disaster management drills. Everyone practiced the flow of activating the disaster emergency response command post starting from obtaining information about the initial disaster incident, create a rapid reaction team, do assessment or assessing the condition of the affected area and practicing each function of the cluster that has been created.
Rita Mahbengi, one of the participants from the youth representatives, thanked us and said "through this activity, we know how to handle disasters during an emergency response, so no more confusion".
The traces of the disaster are so clear in Bah Village, create people's memory of the earthquake disaster that is still happening. Memories from experiences of facing disasters are very valuable if used well. Through the community's collective memory in facing disasters, it can become our basis for making good decisions in reducing disaster risk. (LS)
