Ecosystem-Based Tsunami Disaster Risk Reduction in Indonesian Coastal Areas

Rudianto, E. et al. | Springer International Publishing | 2016 | Book (chapter) | https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-28528-3_3

Abstract

A healthy natural coastal ecosystem can function as one of the components in reducing potential risk of coastal disasters. The impacts of tsunamis, storm surges and coastal erosions can be reduced at a certain limit by the existence of coastal forest and dunes. In Indonesia, tsunami occurs once twice a year in average. It means, tsunami hit quiet frequently even though the return period in a specific location mostly is several tens to hundred years. To reduce potential impacts of tsunamis in coastal area, construction and rehabilitation of coastal forest is one of the main efforts. The existence of a healthy coastal forest not only provides a suitable protection for high frequency but relatively minor to medium scale tsunamis, but also promotes economic activity based on eco-tourism that will ensure the sustainability of the coastal forest maintenance in the later phase. This paper aims to describe milestones of tsunami mitigation by using greenbelt in Indonesia. Conception, tsunami hazards assessment, challenges and lessons learnt in applying tsunami mitigation by using greenbelt are described so the initiative can be replicated in other tsunami prone areas.