Vulnerability Characteristics of Tsunamis in Indonesia: Analysis of the Global Centre for Disaster Statistics Database
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Vulnerability Characteristics of Tsunamis in Indonesia: Analysis of the Global Centre for Disaster Statistics Database Paper: Vulnerability Characteristics of Tsunamis in Indonesia: Analysis of the Global Centre for Disaster Statistics Database Anawat Suppasri∗1,†, Abdul Muhari∗2, Syamsidik∗3, Ridwan Yunus∗4, Kwanchai Pakoksung∗1, Fumihiko Imamura∗1, Shunichi Koshimura∗1, and Ryan Paulik∗5 ∗1International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University 468-1 Aoba, Aramaki-Aza, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-0845, Japan †Corresponding author, E-mail: [email protected] ∗2Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Jakarta, Indonesia ∗3Tsunami and Disaster Mitigation Research Center (TDMRC), Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh, Indonesia ∗4United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Indonesia Country Office, Jakarta, Indonecia ∗5National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Wellington, New Zealand [Received April 24, 2018; accepted October 15, 2018] Regional disaster data are important for understand- tsunami disaster data for the GCDS database. ing the characteristics of disasters and for identify- ing potential mitigation measures. However, many countries have no official disaster database that in- Keywords: global centre for disaster statistics, tsunami, cludes information such as numbers of deaths or dam- vulnerability, Indonesia, disaster database aged buildings for each disaster event. The Global Centre for Disaster Statistics (GCDS) was established to assist countries and organizations in the collection 1. Introduction of disaster data. At present, a significant amount of tsunami disaster data are available from Indone- The third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduc- sia, which will be used to demonstrate its applica- tion (WCDRR) was held in Sendai on March 2015. At tion for analyzing vulnerability characteristics of his- that time, a new framework for disaster risk reduction, torical tsunamis. There are 53 data points covering referred to as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk 13 tsunami events between the year 1861 and 2014. Reduction (SFDRR), was adopted by 187 countries, and Based on data availability, five tsunami events, namely included seven global targets. This new framework will the 1977 Sumba, the 2004 Indian Ocean, the 2006 be applied between 2015 and 2030. In addition, post- Java, the 2010 Mentawai, and the 2011 Great East 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were also Japan, were selected. Numbers of deaths and dam- adopted in September 2015, with 17 global goals and aged buildings were used in combination with hazard 169 targets. These targets include reducing mortality, the data to estimate vulnerability, defined as the ratio be- numbers of affected people, and direct economic losses tween maximum flow depth against death and build- from disasters. The development of detailed disaster dam- ing damage ratios. Numbers of evacuees were initially age and loss-related information is crucial for measuring used to estimate actual numbers of exposed population and monitoring these targets. but it was later discovered that this parameter overes- timated the exposed population in certain cases. As 1.1. Tsunami Hazard-Related Information from a result, this study presents the vulnerability charac- Historic Tsunami Databases teristics of people and buildings in Indonesia, exposed to unusual or extreme tsunamis, mostly in a condi- There are few hazard databases in the tsunami research tion without or with limited access to official warn- field, namely (1) Global Historical Tsunami Database op- ings. In brief, a maximum flow depth of 5 m caused erated by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association an approximate 100% death ratio in the majority of (NOAA), USA [1], (2) Historical Tsunami Database for Indonesian tsunamis in this study. On the other hand, the World Ocean by Tsunami Laboratory, Novosibirsk, death ratio in the 2011 Japan tsunami was limited to Russia [2], and (3) Japan Tsunami Trace Database, In- 10% because of the early warning and high disaster ternational Research Institute of Disaster Science, To- awareness. Effective disaster risk reduction activities hoku University, Japan [3]. The main purposes of these such as official warnings, evacuations, and tsunami ed- databases are to collect and store hazard damage data, fol- ucation were observed for certain locations. Lastly, lowing tsunami disasters. Of these, NOAA’s global his- adding hazard and population data at the village level toric tsunami database is the most widely used because is recommended for improving the collection of future of its regularly updated information, completeness, global coverage area, and long coverage period. Therefore, the Journal of Disaster Research Vol.13 No.6, 2018 1039 Suppasri, A. et al. Table 1. Overview of the GCDS database focusing on tsunamirelated events in Indonesia. Year Source location No. of points Main damage information Other damage related information 1861 SW Sumatra 1 b Not available 1973 Unknown 1 d Crops 1977* Sunda Islands 5 b,c,d Education related facilities, crops 1979 Lomblen Island 1 b,d,e Not available 1991 Unknown 1 b,d Not available 1992 Flores Sea 1 b,g Education related facilities 1994 South of Java 1 b,d Not available 2004* West of Sumatra 21 a,b,c,d,e, f,g,i Health and education related facilities, crops, roads 2006* South of Java 9 b,c,d,e,g,i Offices, kiosks, infrastructures, rice fields, health, education and worship related facilities, roads 2010∗ Sumatra 1 a,b,c,d,e,g,i Offices, education and worship related facilities 2011* East of Japan 1 b,e,g,i Roads, health and worship related facilities 2012* NW Sumatra 9 b,c Offices 2014a N Moluccas Islands 1 No damage Infrastructures * = events that were analyzed and discussed in this study, a = losses (million rupias), b = number of deaths, c = number of injuries, d = number of missing, e = number of evacuees, f = number of affected people, g = number of major damaged buildings, h = numbers of moderate damaged buildings, and i = numbers of minor damaged buildings maximum tsunami height data from the NOAA database sia, where data are available for few historical tsunami are the most commonly used. events. These data must be supplemented with other The estimated maximum flow depth was obtained by sources to form a tsunami disaster statistics database for subtracting the maximum tsunami height by land eleva- Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate tion (MSL) at the same position from a substantial number how GCDS data from historic tsunami events in Indone- of sources, namely Lidar measurement data from the In- sia could be used to identify people and building vulner- donesian National Agency for Disaster Management [4], abilities to hazard exposure, and determine the impact of contour map from Indonesian National Institute of Aero- disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures on lowering such nautics and Space [5], and ALOS (Advanced Land Ob- vulnerability. Recommendations for the collection of fu- serving Satellite) PALSAR (Phased Array type L-band ture tsunami disaster data are determined to improve vul- Synthetic Aperture Radar) [6]. In addition to hazard- nerability research activities and disaster statistics report- related data, damage information was stored for each ing for GCDS. tsunami event. The NOAA database contains general in- formation about tsunami sources (earthquake, landslide, volcanic eruption, etc.) and occurrence times. For every 1.2. Tsunami Damage-Related Information from single tsunami height, information on its validity, distance the GCDS Database from the source, arrival time, wave period, numbers of The GCDS database provides 53 district- or city-level death, numbers of injured and missing persons, and num- damage data points from 13 tsunami events between 1861 bers of destroyed houses was stored. and 2014. Each data point includes the occurrence year, The Global Centre for Disaster Statistics (GCDS) was source location, number of points, main damage infor- established in March 2015 under collaboration between mation, and other damage-related information, which are the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and summarized in Table 1 and the targeted tsunamis in this the International Research Institute of Disaster Science study is shown in Fig. 1. Certain tsunami events provide (IRIDeS) at Tohoku University. Each organization is as- only one tsunami information data point for each repre- signed the task of collecting global disaster data from sented location. historic events and centralizing them in a global disas- In other cases, one point is available for one adminis- ter statistics database. There are seven pilot countries, trative area such as district or city, even though there are namely Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Maldives, a significant number of villages affected by the respec- Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. At present, only a cer- tive tsunami. Although the GCDS database consists of no tain amount of disaster data from the Indonesian gov- tsunami hazard information, additional damage and im- ernment are ready for utilization in database develop- pact information is provided, such as numbers of evac- ment and research activities. However, data are often not uees, affected people, damaged infrastructure, and pub- available or are incomplete for all disaster types. This lic facilities at city or district level; however, not for all is the case for tsunami, a frequent disaster in Indone- events. It has been established from a previous study [7] 1040 Journal