FPIK, SEMARANG – The tidal flood disaster known locally as rob is a natural event caused by the sea level dynamics that periodically inundates the land surface. Combined with present climate change, it is potentially harmful and might and disrupt normal life of the people in the area. Tidal flood disaster has become a serious threat to the coastal area of Semarang City. This became the motivation for the Science and Technology Community Service Team for Undip Assisted Villages (IDBU), Department of Oceanography, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (FPIK) to make a breakthrough. They have succeeded creating an application capable of predicting the rob occurance. The application is called “Rob Calendar” and can be downloaded from the Play Store.
This year, the IDBU team provided data updates of the Rob Calendar 2020 in the Tambakrejo coastal area, Tanjung Mas Village, Semarang. The activity was held on Saturday, September 19, 2020, attended by residents and community leaders as well as community group leaders.
The socialization of the how to use as well as data update of Rob Calendar 2020 is a continuation of the collaboration between the Community Supervisory Group (Pokmaswas) and the Community Service Team of the Oceanography Department of Diponegoro University which was carried out through the Science and Technology Program for IDBU during 2018-2020.
According to the head of the IDBU Team, Prof. Dr. Denny Nugroho Sugianto ST. MSi., this event aims to create a community that is resilient to coastal disasters in Tanjung Mas Village, Semarang, Central Java due to tidal floods (rob) which are part of the life of the local community at any time.
Using the Rob Calendar, the public can easily predict when the rob occurs, the height of tidal flood is, how long the rob will last, and how the water level is in the rob, so that residents can anticipate any damage by moving their belongings or furnitures to avoid be flooded by the tidal water that suddenly came.
Another benefit for the residents is when they will hold social, religious events, and even wedding receptions. Residents get information from Rob’s Calendar to decide the the time for various events so it doesn’t coincide with rob occurrence. In addition, it is also useful as information for short, medium and long term mitigation for the government, stakeholders, and the community related to tidal disasters that occur in coastal areas.
This effort is one form of implementation of UNDIP activity in the context of the government’s agenda, i.e. sustainable development goals (SDGs) 13 (climate action) and 17 (partnerships for the goals), namely strengthening implementation measures and revitalizing global partnerships for sustainable development. SDGs are a global action plan agreed upon by world leaders, including Indonesia, to end poverty, reduce inequality and protect the environment. The SDGs contain 17 Goals and 169 Targets that are expected to be achieved by 2030.
Chairman of RT 04 RW 16 Mr. Suratno who also serves as Chairman of the Manunggal Bahari Community Supervisory Group (Pokmaswas) representing residents, said that the Rob Calendar is very useful and serves as a guide for residents in determining the timing for events to be held in the village. According to the head of RW 16 Tambakrejo Tanjung Mas, Mr. Slamet Riyadi, the Rob Calendar made by IDBU Team since 2018-2020 is very useful in everyday life which does not escape the tidal disasters that come all the time. Now, residents can anticipate and be able to save their belongings before the rob arrives.
Furthermore, IDBU team member Dr. Muhammad Helmi added that the rob Calendar has 2 versions, i.e. digital and printed form. For the digital form, the Android-based rob Calendar application can be downloaded on the Play Store, displaying water level conditions, where in one day there is information on the highest water level and lowest water level, in meters. Data is displayed hourly and daily live. As well as information on the water level whether it is still in a safe level, alert 1, alert 2, and alert. There is also information about the Gregorian and Javanese calendars as well as information on the lunar cycle. Currently the Rob Calendar application only provides data in the city of Semarang and its surroundings and is in the development stage for the entire northern coast of Central Java. In the future, the Rob Calendar application will continue to be expanded to other areas prone to tidal or tidal floods. (Adm | Source: undip.ac.id & pkmbrp.undip.ac.id).
