By: Kania Dewi Rahayu

The tsunami that hit the Sunda Strait region on December 22 2018 had an impact on several areas in Banten and Lampung. Supporting villages located in the northern area of Ujung Kulon National Park (TNUK) also felt the impact of the tsunami that resulted from the activity of Mount Anak Krakatau.

As a result  As a result of the tsunami disaster, several houses of villagers located in the affected areas were damaged, ranging from minor damage to severe damage. The activities of community groups in the affected areas have also been hampered. There are three groups assisted by WWF Ujung Kulon namely the Paniis Lestari Group (Panles), the Madu Hanjuang Group, and the Cinibung Wisata Group (Ciwisata) which were also affected by the tsunami at the end of last December.

The Panles group is a group engaged in ecotourism which is located in Paniis Tourism Village, Taman Jaya Village, Pandeglang Regency, Banten. Paniis Tourism Village is one of the villages that was quite badly affected. A total of approximately 42 houses were heavily damaged and 106 heads of families had to be evacuated.

The group, which has been established since 2006, is active in both tourism and conservation activities. Panles actively conducts coral reef transplantation activities. The Panles group was formed as a result of an initiation by WWF Ujung Kulon together with the Taman Jaya village community. In addition to maritime tourism, the Panles group also often holds cultural arts performances when the harvest season arrives, namely by holding the Rengkong Festival.

Another community group that was also affected by the tsunami was the Hanjuang Group in Ujung Jaya Village. The activities of the Hanjuang group are different from the Panles group. The Hanjuang group is engaged in forest honey management. This group also succeeded in developing a cooperative called the Hanjuang Cooperative. This cooperative handles the processing, packaging, distribution and marketing of the honey produced.

The last group which is also WWF's target group is the Ciwisata group (Cinibung Wisata) located in Cinibung Village, Kertajaya Village. Kampung Cinibung is also one of the locations affected by the tsunami. Ciwisata Group is engaged in handicrafts. This group consists of wood carving craftsmen. The type of carving they usually produce is a wood carving of a rhinoceros statue. The Ciwisata group was formed in 2012. The rhino statue produced by the Ciwisata group can be used as a means of promoting the conservation of the Javan rhinoceros. This group has handled several rhino statue souvenir orders.

After the tsunami, all three groups experienced a decline in activity. They also suffered losses caused by the tsunami disaster. After the tsunami hit Kampung Paniis, the tourism activities of the Panles Group were also affected. Some of the physical facilities owned by the Panles group, such as meeting and study halls, were swept away by the tsunami. Some of the equipment that supports coral reef transplantation activities, such as diving equipment, was also washed away by the tsunami. "Currently, the Panles Group together with the people of Paniis Village are still in the process of psychological and infrastructure recovery after the tsunami disaster," said Doni, one of the committee members of the Panles Group. Doni also talked about plans to build shelters (temporary shelter) and permanent shelter for Paniis residents who no longer have a place to live as a result of the tsunami.

The Hanjuang Honey Group also experienced similar losses. Their honey storage warehouse was damaged by the tsunami and they also lost about 4 quintals of honey stock. The loss of a large supply of honey affects their honey marketing activities. Because as explained by Anton, WWF staff and also the guide for the Hanjuang group, the Hanjuang Group has been actively marketing their honey products to be supplied as a raw material for the well-known cosmetic brand, Oriflame. Bearing in mind that they can only harvest honey during the dry season, of course the loss of a large stock of honey will have a significant detrimental effect on the Hanjuang Group. After the tsunami incident, as with Panles, the Hanjuang Honey Group was not yet active in carrying out its activities. Currently, they are still in the psychological impact recovery stage after the tsunami disaster. However, in the near future they will immediately plan activities that can be carried out by the group.

Almost the same situation was experienced by the Cinibung Village Ciwisata Group. "We lost the equipment used to make rhinoceros statues such as a wood planer machine. We also lost some of the crafts we had made as a result of being swept away by the tsunami. If we donate it, our loss will be around 10 million more," said Mardi, head of the Ciwisata Group. The lack of visitors after the disaster made their handicraft business empty of buyers. Even though it is not as bad as Kampung Paniis, until now Kampung Cinibung is still in the recovery stage after the disaster. Like the other two groups, Ciwisata's art activities had stopped but after the recovery stage after the disaster, they will start thinking about the activities that will be carried out by their group.

The WWF Ujung Kulon team, which has historical close ties with the buffer villages around TNUK, including the three groups of villages that are also in the buffer zone, feels they have a moral responsibility in terms of handling this tsunami disaster. Therefore, the WWF Ujung Kulon team took the initiative to form a program called 'pekkerti', Community Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment in Participatory Disaster Risk Reduction Efforts. The aim of this program is to prepare villagers who are in disaster-prone areas and the WWF team themselves to be able to deal with situations when a disaster occurs, not only the tsunami disaster, but various forms of disaster. It is hoped that after this program villages will have their own procedures for disaster emergency response such as having clear assembly and evacuation points and being able to manage emergency supplies after a disaster occurs. This program will actively involve the village community. We hope that the implementation of this program will encourage the villages, including these three groups, to be enthusiastic again in carrying out activities for their villages.