Wrap-Up of Webinar Socialization of Community-Based Action Plans (RENAKSI) in Improving Disaster Preparedness in West Bandung Regency

RDI in collaboration with the Bandung Institute of Technology has organized a webinar on the Socialization of Community-Based Action Plans in Improving Disaster Preparedness in West Bandung Regency on Friday, 6^th of November 2020. This webinar presented three keynote speakers, Dr. Saut Sagala as a Representative of Bandung Institute of Technology, Mr. Dadang Sudardja as a representative of the Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Mr. Poniman as a representative of BPBD West Bandung Regency. Then this webinar was moderated by Aria Mariany from the Institute of Technology Bandung. This event was held in the form of a 2020 Community Service Activity from the Institute of Technology Bandung. The purpose of implementing this activity is to increase preparedness and awareness of the importance of disaster risk reduction through axis planning activities, especially in West Bandung Regency. The target location of this activity is carried out in Jambudipa and Pagerwangi Villages, West Bandung Regency, West Java Province with all elements of society collaborating with local government and institutions outside of government.

The first speaker, Dr. Saut Sagala, explained the introduction of a community-based action plan for the location of West Bandung Regency which is traversed by the Lembang Fault route which has a great potential for earthquake disasters. In his explanation, he stated that the community understood that they were in an area that was exposed to the earthquake because of their location around the Lembang Fault. The community also understands the risks of other disasters such as landslides, and even crime. Based on this, to overcome this, the community needs early warning, access to human resources and information, and how the involvement of all stakeholders, especially the community and NGOs from the business.

Then proceed with the explanation from Poniman as a representative of BPBD West Bandung Regency, providing information regarding the Disaster Risk Reduction in West Bandung Regency. In his explanation, he stated that basically the West Bandung Area is an area that is often the subject of various natural disasters, be it earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, to flash floods, especially because of the location and geographical conditions of West Bandung itself. For this reason, as an effort to overcome these problems, BPBD in collaboration with various parties also provides assistance funds for disaster management. However, it is recognized that the main goal in the future is to turn a village into a resilient village due to its effectiveness in increasing community resilience in the face of disaster conditions. That way, one of the biggest obstacles faced today is limited funds because in West Bandung itself currently only has 2 disaster resilient villages.

The 3^rd speaker, namely Dadang Sudardja as a representative of the DRR Forum, provided the information about a closer introduction to Community / Community Based Disaster Risk reduction. From the explanation given, what can be underlined in a community-based disaster risk reduction strategy is that first of all it is necessary to conduct an assessment by extracting the required data, such as how many families there are, etc. If it has been collected, it is necessary to have an analysis and mapping of risks and threats of disasters owned by an area so that in the future priority action plans can be determined. However, what needs to be further improved is the improvement and utilization of networks in disaster management. Especially if all parties in Pentahelix can work together in this process, where the community will later become one of the important elements in it.

Group Photo of RENAKSI Webinar Speakers

From the existing presentation, there are at least two key words, first, namely recognizing risks, as stated by the speaker. Regarding how the community can recognize risks, of course they can determine what kind of mitigation efforts. In mitigation as local wisdom also needs to be given more attention even though it sometimes conflicts with existing regulations in some cases. Social capital is also important and can be applied anywhere, although it is substantially different in each case. Second, namely the existence of network coordination, especially regarding how mutual understanding is built between various parties. Coordination can also reduce barriers. In addition, it is necessary to use philanthropic funds from the private sector or the government to build disaster resilient villages which are a form of community-based risk reduction activities.