1219 | 29 | Warning from non-seismically induced tsunamis in Indonesia: the challenge of applying an integrated ‘cascading disasters’ approach across silos and epistemic cultures

As cascading hazards, non-seismically induced tsunamis typically ask for an integrated cross-sectoral and inter-disciplinary approach: a volcanic eruption may cause a flank collapse, then a landslide, then a tsunami wave killing hundreds of already vulnerable people, as occurred in 2018 in Indonesia following the Anak Krakatau eruption. Yet, the Indonesian tsunami warning system (InaTEWS) operating since 2008 did not issue a warning then. It focuses on earthquake-triggered tsunamis and relies on seismic sensors only, reflecting a division between the Indonesian agencies that are mandated with seismology, volcanology, geology, oceanography and ‘culture aspects’ only. Building on 30 qualitative interviews and two science-policy workshops with German and Indonesian scientists and practitioners participating in the Tsunami_Risk research project, this paper details the successes and challenges encountered by those currently pushing for non-seismically induced tsunamis to be included in the InaTEWS. While it is increasingly expected that disaster policy and research endeavours be ‘integrated’ in the sense of interdisciplinary, international and trans-disciplinary, the paper finds that both structural and epistemological factors render this difficult in practice.

Isabelle Desportes
Disaster Research Unit, Freie Universität Berlin

ID Abstract: 29

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