Siloinak
Surf Resort since its conception has developed some sustainable development
programs.
The 25 November 2010 a tsunami strikes the south
of the Mentawai archipelago. Siloinak resort is absolutely not affected
and provides immediately a personal and limited help. But Gilles Bordessoule
witnesses first hand the difficulties of communication that plague the
organisation of the rescue organization. He plans now to provide
each village of the Mentawai with a satellite phone and maintain them.
Here is the message he sent to some friends who own corporations that
could help.
The main problem in the Mentawai rescue operations is now the total lack of communication and a very bad weather. Preparing the future means building an early tsunami warning system and may be relocating the villages.
No
tsunami warning?
There have been rumors on the Internet that the
Indonesian tsunami warning
system had not been operational and failed to protect the populations.
This does not seem exact. A warning has been broadcasted by the
national TV stations about 10 minutes after the earthquake. But
it was already too late for the populations of South Pagai, located at
less than 60 kilometers from the epicenter: the wave was already reaching
them.
Preparing
the future
The real difficulty to relay tsunami warnings is that most of the Mentawai
coastal villages do not have electrical power, phone land lines, cell
phone coverage, SSB radio or satellite phone. They do have some rare TV
with satellite dishes running on small generators, usually inside the
local grocery.
The most convenient way to transmit a tsunami warning to these populations
would be to use the radio broadcasts frequencies they listen to daily,
using small battery powered radios: the Mentawai speaking broadcast
stations based in Padang, West Sumatra.
Siloinak Surf Resort is now planning to approach these stations, offering
them help to establish a permanent and protected communication channel
with the Indonesian tsunami warning agencies.
Moreover, the distribution of free solar powered radios to each village-head in the Mentawai could be a good way to enhance the security of the area, allowing the villagers to permanently let the radio on without having to buy costly batteries. Ideally, each of these villages should also be equipped with a solar powered Indonesian satellite phone PASTI, the rates of which are affordable even to poor fishermen. These phones, which are sold at a reasonable price, would be given free in order to alleviate the isolation of the Mentawai villages. They would be used daily, being operated by the local grocery, church or village-head and would therefore be taken care of by this operator. They could be used as an advanced warning system managed by the populations themselves.
Another immediate solution to increase the safety of the population would be to finance the construction by the villagers themselves of a communal house, called Uma, which would be used for ceremonies, social gatherings, marriages, communal debates… and as a ready-made shelter in case of tsunami. These Uma would be located at a minimum of 20 meters above sea level or, if not possible, at least at 1000 meters from sea shores in a way to be out of reach of most tsunamis. l
Such Uma would cost only 5000 USD each, for a 20 meters x 7 meters longhouse and be able to shelter about 100 persons at 1,5 meters to 2 meters above the ground. A prototype of such long houses can be seen at Siloinak Mentawai Surf Resort, where it is used as a restaurant.
However, the radical solution would be to relocate all the fishermen villages at a minimum of 20 meters above sea level or, where not possible, at least at 1000 meters from sea shores. This would still allow their professional activities and spare lots of lives in the future.
