Ambon – As part of the Science and Technology Research Partnerships for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) with title the Building Sustainable System for Resilience and Innovation in Coastal Community (BRICC) 2024 Program and Penelitian Unggulan Universitas Syiah Kuala (USK) 2024 Research Grant, TDMRC USK sent a team to a joint mission in Ambon of Maluku, the eastern part of Indonesia. The mission was conducted between September 11-15, 2024. The BRICC Project is supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Science and Technology (JST). The Principal investigators for SATREPS BRICC are Prof. Nobuhito Mori (Kyoto University) and Dr. Muhammad Farid (Institut Teknologi Bandung), from Japan and Indonesia respectively. For the Ambon field visit in 2024, the USK team was led by Prof. Dr. Syamsidik as co-leader of Indonesia group for Working Team 2 (on tsunami and flood modelling). The USK team members were Prof. Hizir and Teuku Andri Renaldi, MT.
The team joined the other researchers group from Institut Teknologi Bandung/ITB (Dr. Muhammad Farid-Indonesia PI for BRICC), International Research Institute of Disaster Science of Tohoku University (IRIDeS) led by Prof. Anawat Suppasri, from Japan Science and Technology (Prof. Keiko Tamura, Mr. Tsukasa Soma, and Ms. Yuko Hori), and from Japan International Cooperation Agency/JICA (Mr. Masatoshi Saruta), and from Universitas Pattimura (Dr. Ferad Puturuhu and Dr. Okky Latuamary).
A series of field visits and courtesy visits were performed by the team. The field visits were conducted at six locations around the Ambon Bay, namely Desa Hutumury and Desa Rutong of South Leitimur sub-district, at Pokka and Rumah Tiga in Baguala sub-district, at Hative Kecil of Sirimau sub-district, mangrove forest at Passo, and at Air Manis/Laha of Teluk Ambon sub-district. Figure 1 shows the locations of the field visits. Figure 2 shows one of the most iconic places inside the Ambon Bay. The figure was captured in April 2024 (funded by JICA).
Figure 1. Locations of the field visits around Ambon, Maluku.
The series visits were aimed at directly discussing and observing the community preparedness towards tsunami. All the districts were impacted by the 1950 tsunami that was generated from an earthquake located around the Banda Sea. The team also had a brief meeting with the community leaders to know better the present gaps within the communities that will be potentially considered in the future works of the project.
Hutumury village is identified as one of the most impacted villages during the 1950 tsunami. This village was directly from the source of the tsunami located to the south of Ambon island (at -3.800 Latitude and 128.300 Longitude, according to the NOAA). At this village, the community has set its tsunami evacuation hill that is expected to accommodate the entire population of the village. During the 1950 tsunami, this village was destroyed and left only the Baitlehem church. The church was constructed in 1832. Figures 3-5 show the condition of the Hutumury village and the team near the coastline of the village.
Another good example was found in Rutong village. In this village, the community has developed its own long-term missions to enhance the quality of life of the people in the village. The village has also been developing and protecting their coastal forest (consist of Sago forest) that are seen to help mitigate impacts of future tsunami on the village. However, as far as the SATREPS team knowledge, there have been limited number of research that took sago as tsunami mitigation measures. This could be among general research opportunities to be developed.
The team visited Hative Kecil village that is located near the south bay of Ambon. Although this village was destroyed by the 1950 tsunami, there is lack of physical identification of tsunami intensity in the village. There is no sign of tsunami height or a monument to mark the event. However, the community preserves the memory of the event by annually conducting a church mass to commemorate the 1950 tsunami.
Figure 2. A view of the Ambon Bay taken by a drone image (captured in April 2024).
Figure 3. A view of the Hutumury village from its tsunami escape hill.
Figure 4. A view of the Hutumury village from sea side, during a low tide condition.
Figure 5. The remaining trees could be seen from the coastline of Hutumury.
Figure 6. The team at Rutong Sago Forest.
In Rutong, the community has been developing a number of activities related to disaster risk reduction. One of the most important activities is the Sago Forest reserved as part of local knowledge of the community to protect the village from tsunami and coastal flooding (see Figure 6). At the same time, the forest is also functioned as an eco-tourism area where people need to pay for an entrance fee. The community also harvest the Sago Forest for their food supply. One of the delicacies is Papeda that is made from the Sago.
The third location visited by the team was a conservation of Mangrove forest that is located in Passo. The area is a tidal flat but now has been surrounded by many buildings and encounter some antrophogenic pressures from the community who live around the area. There have been a number of project to maintain and develop the mangrove forest area in Passo. Figure 7 shows the team was visiting the mangrove area in Passo.
Figure 7. A visit to mangrove forest at Passo.
The fourth site of the visit was at Desa Pokka and Rumah Tiga. These areas are located in Baguala sub-district, at the northern side of Merah Putih bridge. The villages were identified to have high VS30 according to Maluku Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Maluku). This means that the areas are prone to impacts of earthquake amplification and liquefaction. Meanwhile, the largest hospital in Maluku and the Universitas Pattimura are located in this area (see Figure 8). A river mouth is also divided the village and flow to the Ambon Bay. The river mouth in this area was told to be the source of the landslide tsunami in 1950. However, there is little evidence to prove the landslide tsunami from this area. This could be seen as another research gap to be considered in the SATREPS Project. An aerial view was captured by TDMRC team previously in April 2024 as can be seen in Figure 9.
Figure 8. The team conducted a field overview around the river mouth of Rumah Tiga in Ambon. One of the two potential sources of the 1950 landslide tsunami.
Figure 9. A view of Rumah Tiga from the Ambon Bay side.
Figure 10. The tsunami evacuation direction in Air Manis of Laha. The area is located very close to the Pattimura Airport of Ambon.
The team completed its field trips to visit Air Manis of Laha village that is in Teluk Ambon sub-district. The village is situated between the Pattimura Airport and the bayside. This makes difficult to the village community to evacuate in case any emergency prevails. Previously, the government of Ambon city has recommended the community to evacuate to BMKG tower near the village and to cross the airport runway to reach the airport building (see Figure 10). A more frequent tsunami drill is necessary to be conducted to test the feasibility of the recommendations and to increase awareness of the community of the village.
As part of the courtesy visits, the team visited the Acting Mayor of Ambon city, the Maluku Provincial Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Maluku), and the Ambon City Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Ambon). During their visit to the Mayor, the team reported about recent initiatives from the group to increase the city’s preparedness towards tsunami hazards. Figure 11 shows a photo session with the acting Mayor of Ambon city and the acting secretary of Ambon City.
Figure 11. A courtesy visit to the acting Mayor of Ambon City, Bapak Dominggus Nicodemus and the acting secretary of the city: Bapak Robby Sapulette at the Official House of the Mayor.
Figure 12. The team visited Maluku Province Disaster Management Agency.
Figure 13. The team met with the secretary of the Ambon city Disaster Management Agency.
During the visit at the Mayor’s official house, the team briefed the mayor about the SATREPS BRICC Project that is intended to be conducted until end of 2026. Prof. Tamura mentioned about a series of initiatives under the project that have been conducted by various organization under this project. Prof. Anawat Suppasri also informed the mayor about the collaborations among the important institutions in Ambon such as from the Universitas Pattimura, BAPPEDA Ambon, and BPBD Ambon. The Mayor congratulated the team for the achievement and welcome future collaborations between the government of Ambon and the SATRPES-BRICC Project team. Figure 11 shows a photo session with the acting Mayor and secretary of the Ambon City with SATREPS-BRICC Team.
The team also conducted two discussions with the Maluku Provincial Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Maluku) and with Ambon City Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Ambon). At BPBD Maluku, the team was informed about the disaster profiles of the province and some recent interventions made by the agency (see Figure 12). At BPBD Ambon, the team was also informed about a plan to add more tsunami sirene towers along the Ambon Bay. The SATREPS Team reported a plan to install a closed circuit camera (cc camera) at one of BMKG stations to monitor potential tsunami wave. A photo session with BPBD Ambon can be seen in Figure 13.
Links of online news from the activities:
https://terasmaluku.com/headline/2024/09/18/tim-peneliti-satreps-dari-jepang-edukasi-mitigasi-bencana-di-ambon/
https://ambon.go.id/pj-wali-kota-terima-kehadiran-peneliti-tsunami-dari-jepang/
