Knowledge Management On Earthquake Response In Lombok

Picture 1.  Damaged Mosque in Lombok (Sutopo_PN, 2018)

August 5, 2018 at 18.46 AM emergency phase was enforced. A 7 SR earthquake hit West Nusa Tenggara. Its epicenter located at 18 km northeast to East Lombok with 15 Km depth. The tremor was felt throughout Bali, Lombok, and Sumbawa region. It happened just a week following an initial shock on July 29, 2018 with magnitude of 6.4 SR. BMKG issued a tsunami warning three minute after the 7 SR earthquake hit, and ends at 20.25. (AHA Center, 2018; BMKG, 2018a; Nugroho, 2018a) The earthquake was triggered by Flores Back Arc Thrust. The fault is located on the north of Nusa Tenggara islands and Bali.  (Putrohari, 2018) The Flores thrust appears due to pressure and movement of Australian Plate located under the sea, moving and pressing in north direction towards Indonesia. Other than Flores Back Arc Thrust, there are nine other fault lines crossing and surrounding Lombok Island. (AHA Center, 2018; Yudi et al., 2018). BMKG recorded 318 aftershocks after the 7 SR earthquake, with 19 of them are felt with magnitude above 4,5 SR. (BMKG, 2018b) These aftershocks may pose as additional risk, with its potential to damage the building and create debris as secondary hazard.

Picture 2. Earthquake Location

North Lombok is the area that is most affected by the earthquakes. 78 fatalities have been reported in North Lombok alone, followed by 51 fatalities reported from the West, East, and Central Lombok, and Mataram City combined. 1477 people are seriously injured and in need of critical treatment and more than 156 thousand residents have been displaced, whom as of now, assume the status of internally displaced persons (IDP). (AHA Center, 2018; Nugroho, 2018b) This number is expected to grow as authorities continue collecting more data. An estimated total of 458 schools have been either damaged or completely destroyed across the 4 Lombok Districts and Mataram city (Sekertariat Nasional Satuan Pendidikan Aman Bencana, 2018). The children in Sajang Village, East Lombok, have expressed their desire to return to school to escape idleness and the lack of food and clean water.

Picture 3. Hourly Aftershocks Recorded after 7 SR Lombok Earthquake 5 August 2018

(Source: BMKG, 2018; AHA Center, 2018)

Damages inflicted to structures and settlements result in countless groups of isolated survivors, most of whom are without water, food, shelter, or basic amenities like clean water and medical care. In North Lombok, 8 villages are suffering from such shortages. The survivors of Bayan Beleq village are currently without food, blankets, medical care, and clean water. The latter was cut off by the local water utility company because of damaged pipelines, meaning that the survivors will be without clean water at least for the next 12 days. Similar scenarios are also being reported from West and East Lombok. The survivors in Mekar Sari Village in West Lombok has not yet received any assistance whatsoever. The entire village has been leveled to the ground and no structure is left standing, let alone habitable. (Nugroho, 2018a, 2018b)

Reports have also surfaced from the city of Denpasar, a city in a different island but positioned inside the earthquake radius, with a reported 2 fatalities and 14 injured. The magnitude of the earthquake impact is, as of now, still unquantifiable. Much of the focus is still directed to relief efforts while also carefully collecting data. The BNPB has stated that it is involved in the ongoing task of collecting and compiling, along with Information and Geospatial Agency (BIG), Energy and Mineral Resource Ministry, and the Technology Assessment and Application Agency. In addition, they have also stressed vigilance when reading unverified reports from social media to avoid false reports or hoax. Official information regarding casualties, rescue efforts, damages etc. will be provided by the BNPB or the BPBD. (AHA Center, 2018; Nugroho, 2018b)

In response to the devastating disasters, Resilience Development Initiative will conduct a knowledge management involving our network of on-site partners. Knowledge management is an important key to unlocking more efficiency and effectivity of organizational response to an emergency. It is hoped that our findings could bring light to how various public sectors are affected, the immediate needs of those who are currently displaced, how to mitigate and reduce the impact of disaster in the future, and what we need to be aware of in an emergency response setting. The findings will be published on our website as additional information for individuals and institutions that are involved in the earthquake relief and response efforts. Further information on this will be provided in the future on the website

Author:

Senior Fellow : Yusra Tebe
Researcher : Jeeten Kumar, Yasmina Wulandari

References:

AHA Center. (2018). Situation Update 2: M 6.4 Lombok Earthquake (29 Jul 2018) & M 7.0 Lombok Earthquake (5 Aug 2018), Indonesia. Retrieved from https://ahacentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AHA-Situation_Update_no_2_M-7.0-Lombok-Earthquake-final3.pdf

BMKG. (2018a). BMKG Akhiri Peringatan Dini Tsunami Lombok Utara. Retrieved August 9, 2018, from https://www.bmkg.go.id/berita/?p=bmkg-akhiri-peringatan-dini-tsunami-lombok-utara&lang=ID&s=detil

BMKG. (2018b). Gempabumi Terkini (M ≥ 5.0). Retrieved August 9, 2018, from http://www.bmkg.go.id/gempabumi/gempabumi-terkini.bmkg

Nugroho, S. P. (2018a). Penanganan Darurat Dampak Gempa Lombok Diintensifkan, 131 Orang Meninggal Dunia. Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana.

Nugroho, S. P. (2018b). Update Penanganan Bencana Gempabumi 7 SR di NTB - tanggal 8 Agustus 2018 Pukul 13.00. Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana.

Putrohari, R. D. (2018). Lombok Digencet Dua Patahan Raksasa. Retrieved August 9, 2018, from https://geologi.co.id/2018/08/06/lombok-digencet-dua-patahan-raksasa/

Sekertariat Nasional Satuan Pendidikan Aman Bencana. (2018). Sekolah Terdampak Gempa Lombok.

Sutopo_PN. (2018). Dampak gempa 7 SR yang mengguncang wilayah Lombok, Sumbawa dan Bali tercatat 98 orang tewas, 236 orang luka-luka, ribuan rumah rusak dan ribuan orang mengungsi hingga 6/8/2018, 17.00 WIB. ... [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Sutopo_PN/status/1026448698388111366

Yudi, A., Santoso, E., Kaluku, A., Dawwam, F., Sakti, A. P., Pramono, S., & Permana, D. (2018). Ulasan Guncangan Tanah Akibat Gempa Lombok Timur 05 Agustus 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2018, from https://www.bmkg.go.id/berita/?p=ulasan-guncangan-tanah-akibat-gempa-lombok-timur-05-agustus-2018&lang=ID&s=detil