Bali's Tanjung Benoa Named as UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Community

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In the series of the seventh Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) event in Bali, Tanjung Benoa was recognized as the International Tsunami Ready Community by UNESCO IOC.

The certificate of recognition was delivered by Mohamed Djelid, Director of the UNESCO Regional Science Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, accompanied by the head of Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Bali Governor, and the Senior Advisor of UNDP Bangkok Regional, Sanny Jegillos.

"Tanjung Benoa is the first Indonesian community that is granted international recognition by UNESCO-IOC as a Tsunami Ready Community. BMKG has initiated the Tsunami Ready Field School to support the Tsunami Ready program in Indonesia. The field school is a national priority program to create a society that is prepared to face the earthquake and tsunami," said BMKG head Dwikorita Karnawati in a statement on Saturday, May 28.

BMKG's Earthquake and Tsunami Mitigation coordinator, Daryono, said that Tsunami Ready is a program to increase community capacity in dealing with the threat of a tsunami based on 12 indicators set by UNESCO-IOC.

Preparing the Tanjung Benoa community as a Tsunami Ready Community is appropriate, considering that almost the entire area is surrounded by oceans and facing Bali's southern megathrust zone as the source of the earthquake with a tsunami potential and a maximum magnitude of 8.5.

"In 2022, the BMKG has proposed seven communities, including Tanjung Benoa, to get the Tsunami Ready Community recognition from UNESCO. Six other communities, namely Panggarangan-Lebak, Pangandaran, Glagah-Kulon Progo, Kemadang-Gunung Kidul, Tambakrejo-Malang, and Kuta -Mandalika Lombok, are in the process of international recognition," said Suci, the BMKG Tsunami Ready facilitator.

Through BMKG assistance, Tanjung Benoa already has a Tsunami Hazard Map, so that people understand the tsunami hazard zones in their area. Seven hotels in the area, namely Peninsula Bay Resort, Benoa Sea Suites Villas, Grand Mirage Resort, Ion Bali Benoa, Rasa Sayang, Novotel, and The Sakala Resort, have prepared vertical tsunami evacuation sites which can be used not only by guests but also by the surrounding community.

Tanjung Benoa has also involved schools to train students to carry out regular earthquake and tsunami simulations in preparing the preparedness indicators. in collaboration with BMKG, BPBD Bali Province and Badung Regency, and the international organization UNDP, directional signs and tsunami evacuation maps have been installed.

Erwin Prima

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