THE NEW PARADIGM ON

EVALUATING NATURAL PROCESSES:

Is it DISASTER or BLESSING to the Human Life?

Junun Sartohadi
Universitas Gadjah Mada
 WHAT IS NATURAL PROCESSES?

 It is all processes happened in the nature:

 Triggered by hydro-meteorological phenomena
 Flood, inundation, drought, hurricane, landslide, soil erosion,
disease
 Triggered by volcanic activities
 Lava flow, pyroclastic flow, lahar, fumarole, solfatara, volcanic
shaking
 Triggered by tectonic movements
 Ground shaking, subsidence, uplifting, tsunami
 Triggered by development activities
 Any technological failures
SOME SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND RELATED TO THE
NATURAL PROCESSES EVALUATION

 Physical geography  Politics

 Human geography  Life-scientist
 RS-GIS-GPS dan surveying  Oceanographer
 Geophysics-geology  Regional planning
 Teaching geography  Communications
 Anthropologist  Etc
 Economics
GENERAL PROBLEMATIC BACKGROUND

 We trapped in the “false” evaluation of sudden natural

processes:
 It creating disaster to human life

 We had been neglecting the positive side of sudden natural

processes:
 It produce new resouces arrangement
 It produce new materials
 It produce new natural scineries
SOME CURRENT RESEARCH PROOF

 In the case of Lahar flood in “Kali Putih” at Magelang District-

Central Java (Rosalina at al, 2014)
 The financial value of lahar sediment is more than 4 times higher
than the physical damages and other physical loss
 In the case of retribution income of Mt. Kelud Tourism
(Swastanto at al, 2014)
 The income during three months after eruption in 2014 is already
almost 2 times higher than one year period in 2013
 In the case of Bantul earthquake 2006 (Sudrajad at al, 2011)
 Settlement become better in term of favorable spatial arrangement
and earthquake proof constructions
SOME OTHER POTENTIAL RESEARCH PROOF

 Tidal wave as soil nutrient improvement in the tidal flat areas –

case in West Kalimantan Mangrove Belt (Akbar et al, 2014)
 River flood as agricultural pest “cleaning” – case in Tuban-
Lamongan, East Jawa (PSBA, 2012)
 Soil erosion and landslide as soil rejuvenilization – case in Upper
Bogowonto, Central Java (Pulungan et al, 2014)
SOME RESEARCH TECHNIQUES INVOLVED

 Geoinformatic (RS-GIS-GPS-Land Surveying) techniques

 Economic valuation of non market goods
 Socio-cultural research techniques
 Geophysics survey techniques
 Robust geo-spatial data analysis
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Natural processes is a rearrangement of resources
 We consider sudden natural processes as disaster because:
 We are not well prepared yet
 We do not really understood the characteristics of sudden natural
processes
 The current situation in the disaster areas is “ the local people
who become victims have less access to the new resources”
 Natural processes shall be considered wisely which include all
negative and positive impact both on the physical and non-
physical environment