Doctoral Service Team Universitas Brawijaya (DM UB) socializes landslide disaster mitigation efforts to residents of Brau, Gunungsari Village, Bumiaji District, Batu City.
Brau was chosen as the location of mitigation since in the early February 2021 a landslide occurred. The natural disaster resulted in residents occupying family tents in refugee camps that had been prepared by the regional disaster management agency (BPBD) Batu City.
Prof. Dr. Sunaryo, S.Si., M.Sc., Prof. Drs. Adi Susilo, M.Sc., Ph.D., Dr. Ir. Runi Asmaranto, S.T., M.T. and Arief Andy Soebroto, S.T., M.Kom, conducted offline socialization of doctoral service to residents.
Prof. Dr. Sunaryo, S.Si., M.Sc. said that there are several recommendations for residents related to disaster mitigation efforts, one of which is finding stable and unstable landslide locations.
“As a disaster mitigation effort, locations with stable landslide areas (east-southeast of the research location) can be immediately recommended to be used as shelters or relocation of local residents,” he said.
Meanwhile, according to him, for unstable locations, manipulation can be carried out as a mitigation effort, such as reducing the excess thickness/load of rocks that are above the landslide field on an unstable track, or making civil buildings in the form of retaining walls or drill piles (earth nails) to a minimal depth then do eco-engineering through planting vegetation with ferns and/or creeping roots, then installing signs and EWS (Early Warning System), and lastly educating the public (implementation of disaster mitigation protocols).
While Prof. Drs. Adi Susilo, M.Sc., Ph.D. explain the findings of cracks on the ground surface and can be immediately covered with clay or soil and can be stepped on so that the flow of water does not enter the cracks.
In Brau village, the DM Team plans to also build an Early Warning System (EWS) equipped with a wet season sensor. In the rainy season, the water reservoir in the soil will be flowed so that it settles in the ground for a long time.
“Rainfall greatly affects landslides and there are several types of sensitive soil such as clay. The technical term is porex water pressure, so when clay soils are exposed to heavy rains, the water in the soil with high soil mass also breaks down, different from sandy soils with low pressure. So if there is a crack, it will be closed immediately,” said Dr. Ir. Runi Asmaranto, S.T., M.T. in the middle of the discussion.
Arief Andy Soebroto, S.T., M.Kom. added that critical points can be measured, such as high rainfall as the first parameter then soil conditions.
“If the soil is dry, there is no rain, maybe there will be no landslides, so, there we can know the sensor for soil sediment. This sensor detector can determine the water content in the soil, if it is too saturated, landslides will occur,” said Arief Andy.
Doctoral Service is one of the programs held by Universitas Brawijaya to help the needs or overcome the problems that exist in the community. (BIS/Humas UB/ Trans. Iir).
