Flooding is Indonesia’s most common natural disaster. In West Java, the number of flood and flood-related events has continued to increase since 2012. Meanwhile, in Jatinangor District, Sumedang Regency, the number of floods during the last two years has reached 14 times. One of the villages in Jatinangor that have suffered the greatest impact due to flooding is Cipacing Village, where floods occur on average twice every year.

To address these issues, SCORP-CIMSA FK Unpad designed SIMBA (Siapkan Diri dengan Mitigasi Bencana Alam) with five main events throughout August and September 2022. The main events were Volunteering, Air Campaign, Open Donation, Webinar & Focus Group Discussion, and  Workshop. SIMBA aims to increase the knowledge, understanding, and awareness of the general public, especially the community of RW 18 Cipacing Village, regarding the potential of flooding in their community, the importance of flood mitigation, and the skills that can be used to prevent flooding around their homes and communities.

Before the event, SCORP members received training from Firda from CHRT about human rights in relation to flood mitigation. On August 29th, we started our Air Campaign which consisted of five publications that were shared through Instagram (@cimsafkunpad). These five publications were twibbon, challenge, and three infographics within the scope of flood mitigation. Our second intervention was an open donation that was also shared through Instagram, in which 100% of the proceeds was used to fund our workshop on September.

SIMBA’s Webinar & Focus Group Discussion, titled “Flood Crisis Management”, was held on September 10th with Drs. Edy Haryadi, M.Si. from  BPBD Jawa Barat as the resource person. The Webinar consisted of a learning session regarding climate change and flood mitigation, followed by a focus group discussion where the participants was asked to share and discuss their opinions regarding flood-related issues.

Our last intervention was an offline workshop titled “PLANT: Pemilahan Sampah dan Pembuatan Biopori” which was held on September 17th at the local posyandu in RW 18 Desa Cipacing, with Jaka Maulana Sastrawiria, S.Si. from DLH Jawa Barat as the resource person. The workshop consisted of an interactive learning session focusing on waste management and classification, followed by a practice session where the villagers were taught how to make and plant biopores as a form of flood mitigation.

Through SIMBA, we expect to improve SCORP-CIMSA FK Unpad members and the public’s knowledge regarding the potential of flooding in their community, the importance of flood mitigation, and the skills that can be used to prevent flooding around their homes and communities, thus promoting disaster management and environmental sustainability. Collectively, all SIMBA interventions were successful and our goals were achieved. We hope our activity can be the initial step in promoting and implementing flood mitigation as a way to intensify disaster risk reduction.

SCORP
Standing Committee on Human Rights and Peace

CIMSA
Empowering Medical Students
Improving Nation's Health