Natural Disaster: Mitigation
By: Hananta
Natural Disaster is a natural
phenomenon in the form of tragedy or
catastrophe that causes a great damage in environment or loss of life. It can
be in the form of volcano eruption, tsunami, hurricane or earthquake. The
natural disasters are widely
believed to be inevitable and nothing can be done to cease the emergence of it.
In Indonesia, the publicity about mitigation of natural disaster is a scarcity
which leads the people to be
under-educated and have a tendency to rely on their own survival strategies. This condition induces the more victims taken almost in every natural disaster occurred in
Indonesia. Actually, there are several ways can be done before and during the eventuality of natural disaster to
alleviate the overwhelming victims including the dead and seriously injured
people due to the occurrence of natural disaster.
Firstly, some of the various
kinds of natural disaster can be predicted. For example tsunami, or a tidal wave that come from far away
under the ocean and occurred when there is an earthquake underneath the ocean
that caused the crack underwater that drain the amount of water and suddenly
release it to be a massive wave that swept the coastline area. By learning the symptoms, people who live
by the seashore can predict the tsunami as well preparing to avoid being near the seashore a far as possible.
Another example is volcano eruption. It is an eruption of volcanic substances including lava, dusts, ashes and
rocks from the top of the volcano. The lava can destroy anything it touched, for instance, trees, houses or even the entire city. Although it is difficult to be exactly
predicted due to the irregular activities of the volcano, the eruption of volcano can be predicted
by learning the natural signals, for instance, the various kinds of
animal that descend the
mountain can be the indication of the eventuality of the volcano eruption.
Secondly, developing the projects
or programs that explain what to do before or during the natural disasters is also believed to be an effective way to
decrease the number of dead and heavy injured people caused by natural
disasters. The programs can be a simulation or an illustration that is
believed to illuminate the public and
educate them everything about natural disasters. It is very important for the public
to be given a simulation, since it is not only provide the theories of
survival, but also illustrate the real actions. For the frequent natural
disaster, for instance
earthquake. Although it is occurred frequently, the number of human tragedy is
still very high and it is believed that the reason is because of the unpreparedness
and confusion when the disaster was occurred. A case in point was the Padang earthquake in October 2009. Based on the
news program in Metro TV, the disaster killed 1117 people. To compare,
the one that happened in Turkey in October 2011 only killed about 200 people.
This condition depicts the contrast situation for both countries in facing the
natural disaster. By knowing what to do, the citizens will be prepared when the
disaster was occurred. Therefore, they will know not be panic, where to find a place for shelter and how to escape safely and quickly.
To conclude this essay, the occurrences of natural disasters are inevitable to be
stopped. However, predicting the occurrence of natural disasters by learning its
patterns is very essential as well educating the public by giving
disaster-simulation in order that the public know what to do before or during
the occurrence of natural disasters in facing natural disasters that are
frequently happened, are the effective ways to reduce the effect of natural
disasters, especially the human tragedy which is the overt evidence of
incapability and unpreparedness of the citizens in facing natural disaster.