The Community Service and Empowerment Team (Pengmas) consisting of lecturers and students from the Geology Study Program, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia (FMIPA UI), was present in person at Umbul Tanjung Village, Cinangka District, Serang Regency, Banten on Sunday (29/9/2024), to provide tsunami disaster resilience education and training for teachers, scout leaders, Serang Regency BPBD staff, and the community with a creative and interesting approach, through a disaster curriculum innovation called i-Share (Innovative Tsunami Hazard Education).
i-Share is part of CREDO (Creative Hazard Education) Tsunami series. A curriculum developed from the Environmental Geology and Disaster course, Geology Study Program, FMIPA UI. i-Share is created by combining three aspects of learning, namely visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
The team led by Twin Hosea Widodo Kristyanto, M.T. collaborated with the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Serang Regency, which provided support in-kind by providing the necessary venue and multimedia facilities for the training. Not only involving the BPBD of Serang Regency, this activity also involves the Serang Regency Education Office to obtain maximum active participation from related parties in this training.
"This collaborative activity is a form of contribution from the Geology Study Program, FMIPA UI, in educating the public and increasing student awareness of the dangers of geological disasters. In addition, this program supports UI's focus on community service in Serang City, and is in line with several sustainable development goals promoted by the UN (SDGs), especially SDGs number 4 (Quality Education), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and 15 (Life on Land)," said Twin.
In its implementation, Twin and his team consisting of Arham A. Bahri, Otniel J. Palloan, Rani Nabilah, and Muhammad I. Hibban demonstrated tsunami props, and provided illustrations and detailed explanations of the mechanisms and impacts of tsunamis to participants. In addition, the team also accompanied participants in role playing, which aims to simulate real evacuation and disaster management situations.
"This creative learning model makes the teaching and learning process more interesting and easy to understand. This simulation not only increases participants' understanding of disaster risks, but also trains their skills in dealing with emergency situations more confidently and effectively," he said.
The props used are made of plastic container boxes with two holes on one side. These holes are useful for inserting PVC pipes attached to boards. Later, the pipes will be pushed and will form tsunami waves. Before that, the container boxes are filled with water and soil as engineering of the shape of the sea and the coastline. The coastal part is arranged with replicas of houses.
"The purpose of this demonstration is to show the process of tsunami waves reaching land, as well as the impact of these waves that damage buildings around the coast," he added.
Head of Prevention & Preparedness Division of BPBD Serang Regency, Hotman Siregar, S.STP, M.Si., said that this innovation is proof that disaster education can be done in an interesting and effective way. This can also be a solution for BPBD Serang Regency as the front guard in efforts to increase the capacity of staff, and the community, especially teachers in building disaster response resilience.
"The Serang Regency BPBD is committed to not only being the front line in dealing with disasters, but also being a responsive and trusted partner for the entire community in building resilience together," said Hotman.
He hopes that this activity can provide wider benefits, namely creating a community that is able to adapt in disaster-prone areas.
The Head of Umbul Tanjung Village through the Secretary of Umbul Tanjung Village, Oman, appreciated the efforts of the FMIPA UI team. Oman said that although Serang Regency is an area prone to disasters, until now there has been no adequate curriculum for education about disasters, especially related to tsunamis. Therefore, he considered it necessary to have a disaster curriculum, regarding the potential dangers in the area where they live.
"Serang Regency is known as a disaster-prone area, and until now there has been no appropriate curriculum to educate the public about disasters, especially those related to tsunamis. Therefore, we feel the need to immediately develop a curriculum that can raise awareness of potential hazards in our area," said Oman.
Furthermore, he said, the disaster material i-Share, a curriculum innovation from the Geology study program, FMIPA UI, has the potential to be used as local content in the Serang Regency area.
Before being implemented in Serang Regency, i-Share had been introduced to several schools in the Depok and Jakarta areas since 2022. The evaluation results showed that not only did student preparedness and capacity increase, but student enthusiasm in attending classes also increased.
