How to Help and Save Our Children and Our People from the Earthquake and Tsunami Disasters?

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HOW TO HELP AND SAVE OUR CHILDREN AND OUR PEOPLE FROM THE
EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DISASTERS?
SubanarFadjar Shadiq
SEAMEO QITEP in Mathematics, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
AbstractIndonesia is vulnerable to natural hazards and is at risk from an array ofnatural disaster of earthquakes and tsunamis. People‟s lack of awareness maylead to greater number of victims. Education can play significant role inreducing the unnecessary victims by improving people‟s awareness on thedisaster. This proposed paper aims to develop e-textbooks on mathematics for
emergency preparation through Lesson Study approach. The e-textbook will
utilize mathematical modeling of the disaster processes and impact so thatstudents can learn both mathematics and the nature of the disaster.

Disasters in Indonesia
There are a number of disasters threats, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic
eruption, fires, landslides, typhoons, and flooding. Those disasters could be natural oras a result of man-made. Indonesia is one of country that is vulnerable to naturalhazards especially towards earthquakes and tsunamis.
On 26 December 2004, in Banda Aceh; an earthquake struck 150 km off the coastof Aceh. Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (Badan Rehabilitasi dan
Rekonstruksi or BRR, 2005) states that it was the most powerful one the world has
seen in a generation. Forty five minutes later, the first tsunami waves struck theSimeulue Island, Aceh, Indonesia located approximately 40 kilometers from theepicenter. Waves between 15 and 30 meters high then proceeded to the western andnorthern coasts of Sumatra, causing massive damage to thousands of kilometers ofcoastline in Aceh and North Sumatra Provinces and the western islands. There were
164,891 people buried, 114,897 people missing and 412,438 people displaced.
On 27 May 2006, at 5:54 local time, a medium-sized earthquake hit the central
section of the Java Island, Indonesia. The shaking that lasted about 60 seconds
caused widespread death and destruction to the heavily populated region. Most hit
were Bantul in Yogyakarta Province and Klaten in Central Java Province. The largeand affluent Yogyakarta City was also severely affected. More than 5,700 people werekilled, whilst the injury list exceeded 37,000. Over 156,000 houses and otherstructures were totally destroyed.
Table 1
Earthquakes with Magnitude of 8.0 Richter Scale or more and Tsunamis in Indonesia
within the Last 20 Years (1992 – 2011)

BiakAceh

Magnitudeof Quakes
8.0 RS
9.0 RS

28-MarNias, Simeleue

12-SepMentawai Islands

Years

Dates

Location

1996
2004

17-Feb
26-Dec2005
2007

02.59 p.m
07.58 a.m

Quakesv
v

Tsunamivv

8.6 RS11.09 p.mv

v

8.5 RS

10.26 p.mv

v

Times

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_Indonesia

Data on Wikipedia (2011) as seen at Table 1 above shows us that Indonesia is atrisk from an array of natural disaster of earthquakes and tsunamis. Within the last 20

How to Help and Save Our Children and Our People from the Earthquake and Tsunami Disasters?

1years (1992 – 2011) there are 4 times earthquakes in Indonesia with magnitude 8.0 or
more on Richter scale and all those earthquakes followed by tsunamis.
The Need of Emergency Preparedness Education
UNESCO (2010) has already differentiated between „hazards‟ and „disasters‟.
Hazards are natural while disasters are not. Hazards such as floods, earthquakes, andtsunamis become disasters only when society lacks the ability to cope with them. Inaddition, when a natural hazard strikes, children are among the most vulnerable
population group, especially those attending school in times of disaster. UNESCOISDR (2007) states that disasters such as the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan,where over 16,000 children died in schools that collapsed, or the recent mudslide onLeyte Island in the Philippines, where more than 200 school children were buried
alive, are just a few tragic examples of why more needs to be done to protect ourchildren before disasters strikes.
The lack of knowledge on disaster phenomena leads to a tremendous number ofvictims. People living along the coastline failed to recognize that the receding of water
quickly and unexpectedly from the coast may be the sign of tsunami will be coming.
People followed it instead of running toward higher ground and inland. Many lost theirlives because they did not know the meaning of receding coast. UNESCO ISDR (2007)
gives two good examples that what people know is more important that what they havewhen it comes to saving lives and reducing loss. The first example, on a beach in
Thailand, when the December 2004 Tsunami struck, British schoolgirl Tilly Smith
saved many lives by urging people to flee the shore: her geography class in Britain had
enabled her to recognize the first signs of a tsunami. The second example, at the sametime, Anto, a young boy on the Indonesian island of Simeulue had learned from hisgrandfather what to do when an earthquake strikes. He and all the other islanders ran
to higher ground before the tsunami struck, sparing all but eight members of thecommunity.
During the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, ITIC (2011) reportsthat one minute before the earthquake was felt in Tokyo, the Earthquake Early
Warning System, which includes more than 1,000 seismometers in Japan, sent out
warnings of impending strong shaking to millions. It is believed that the early warningby the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) saved many lives. The warning for thegeneral public was delivered about 8 seconds after the first wave was detected, orabout 31 seconds after the earthquake occurred. The earthquake, tsunami, or bothcaused an enormous numbers of property damage as well.
The Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia (MoEC) withother institutions nevertheless has an important role in providing guidance, expertiseand scientific and technical support in addressing every aspect of disasters. As soon
as possible, Indonesian people must learn about those disasters threats and its
impact on their lives. In all societies, children represent hope for the future. For saving
our life, „Emergency Preparedness Education‟ is one of the most urgently needed
topics for school education. More importantly, it should be attached to provide thenecessary scientific and practical knowledge about disaster risks and relatedcompetencies through the integration of disaster risk reduction education into school
curricula. UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura (UNESCO, 2007) stated:“Anticipating, educating and informing are the keys to reducing the deadly effect ofsuch natural disasters. Unfortunately such activities have not been given priority.”
Therefore, the SEAMEO QITEP in Mathematics strongly supports this project:'Emergency Preparedness Education: Learning from Experience, Science of Disasters,and Preparing for the Future' (HRD 04 11A) which was proposed by Japan (CRICED,
University of Tsukuba) and Thailand (Khon Kaen University).
How to Help and Save Our Children and Our People from the Earthquake and Tsunami Disasters?

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Purposes
In general, this project aims to develop e-textbooks on mathematics for emergency
preparation through the Lesson Study done by the specialists. Specifically, the goals ofthe development of the e-textbooks for students are as follows.
1. To increase the awareness of Indonesian students on the danger of disasters intheir daily lives.
2. To help and facilitate Indonesian students with the scientific and practicalknowledge about disaster risks (before, during, and after the disasters) andrelated skills to reduce or minimize it.
3. To increase Indonesian students‟ beliefs on the importance of mathematics,science, and technology that will motivate them having good attitudes towardmathematics, science, and technology.
4. To increase the awareness of Indonesian students to predict and anticipate theearthquakes and tsunamis.
The Importance of Modeling
During the learning of earthquakes and tsunamis, students can learn and apply
mathematical concept. The examples are as follows.
1. In contexts to the earthquakes and tsunamis data or its presentation that
require students to solve problems or model situations, students should be ableto: (a) investigate questions by using the statistical enquiry, gathering,
displaying, and/or identifying similarities and differences in categorical data;and (b) describe the likelihoods of outcomes for a simple situation involving
chance using daily language.
2. The figure below with its presentation on another table (Elnashai, Kim, Yun,Djoni Sidarta, 2006:14) is an example to indicate that there were many strong
events affecting Java and confirm that the tectonics of the region are dominatedby the subduction of the Australia plate north-northeastward beneath theSunda micro-plate. From Table 4.1 (see Elnashai et.al, 2006:14), students canlearn that major earthquakes larger than magnitude 7 occur every about 25years. The mathematical concept related to this finding is about periodic
functions.

3. From the Yogyakarta earthquake report (Elnashai, A.S., et all), we can learn
that the contour map for horizontal and vertical ground motion havegeometrical concept like ellipse and circle. The students can learn that thelarger the radius, the less the affected region will be.
4. In contexts to the magnitude of earthquakes in Richter Scale in which operates
on a logarithmic basis so there is a 10-fold increase from one unit to the next(Jacobs, 1982:227). He also states that an earthquake rated 4 on the RichterHow to Help and Save Our Children and Our People from the Earthquake and Tsunami Disasters?

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scale has been assigned a relative intensity of 1 unit. Based on this table,students can learn about the comparison of magnitude.
Table 2The Relationship between Richter Scale and Relative Intensity
Richter Scale (RS)45
678
Relative Intensity
110-

9-

If students are facilitated to draw its relationship, they can learn about themagnitude of 7.5 RS or 8.25 RS.
5. Related to the propagation of earthquake energy, there are three types of wave,
namely s, p, and surface waves. The suitable mathematical concept to thesewaves is trigonometric function. The seismograph will represent the geometricalconcept of the three waves. The students will be able to learn the concept ofdifferentiation and integration from acceleration and velocity data.
The Lesson Study Plan
1. Theme: How can we reduce the disaster risk of earthquakes or tsunamis byusing the mathematical model?
2. This lesson study focuses on two issues as follows.
a. How to save people‟s lives and to prevent people from injuries in case ofearthquakes and tsunamis?
b. How to model the situation of earthquakes and tsunamis disaster into
mathematical terms, concept, or principles?
3. The team may consist of specialist, mathematics teachers, mathematics
educators, mathematicians, and geologist.
4. During the „plan‟ step, the team should:
a. collect data and information from several sources such as mathematics
or science books, artifacts, websites, reports, journals, and resource
persons;b. fit or match the knowledge into the topics in the curriculum or syllabus;c. write the e-textbook;d. layout the e-textbook;e. try out the e-textbook;f. discuss the try-out results among the team; andg. revise the e-textbook.
The 4e, 4f, and 4g activities above may be done more than once.
5. During the „do‟ step, the team should:
a. try out the e-textbook in mathematics classes;
b. take note on the advantages and disadvantages of the e-textbook fromthe point of view of both sides (team and students);
6. During the „see‟ step, the team should:
a. discuss the results of the „do‟ step;b. revise or modify the e-textbook.
7. The „plan‟, „do‟ and „see‟ above may be done more than once in improving thequality of the e-textbook.
8. Finalize the e-textbook by using dbook program.
Timeline
PhaseDates
1Jan-Feb, 2012
2
3

Mar-Aug, 2012
Sep-Dec, 2012

Activity
Sharing experiences and developing the tentative
materials for lesson study and plan of lesson study
Writing the e-textbook
Reporting the e-textbook on APEC-Khon KaenInternational Conference on September 7-11, 2012

How to Help and Save Our Children and Our People from the Earthquake and Tsunami Disasters?

4ReferencesBRR (2005). Aceh and Nias One Year after the Tsunami. The Recovery Effort and Way
Forward. Jakarta: BRR
Elnashai, A.S., Kim, S.J., Yun, G.J., Djoni Sidarta (2006). The Yogyakarta Earthquakeof May 27, 2006. MAE Center Report No.07-62. Illinois: Mid-AmericaEarthquake Center
ITIC - International Tsunami Information Centre, (2011). Tsunami Classification.
http://ioc3.unesco.org/itic/contents.php?id=19. Retrieved on 18 December
2011 at 07.40.
Jacobs, H.R. (1982). Mathematics, A Human Endeavor (2nd Ed). San Fransisco: W.H.
Freeman and Company.
UNESCO ISDR (2007). Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School. Geneva: UNESCOISDRUNESCO (2007). Natural Disaster Preparedness and Education for SustainableDevelopment. Bangkok: UNESCO
UNESCO (2010). Disaster Risk Reduction (RDD). An Imperative for Education
Policymakers. Bangkok: UNESCO
Wikipedia (2011) List_of_earthquakes_in_Indonesia. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Retrieved on 18 December 2011 at 07.40.

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