Tulungagung (Antara News Jatim) – Environmental activists from the Mangkubumi Environmental Education Center urged the local government to use an assessment of the risk of falling trees in implementing the policy of cutting down shrubs in the green lane of the local city.
“Risk ‘assessment’ is one of the important assessments and based on this risk value, risk management is carried out, including mitigation (reduction) of the risk itself,” said PPLH Director Mangkubumi Muchammad Ichwan in Tulungagung, Monday.
In scientific terms of conservation, Ichwan states that the risk value of fallen trees (code R) is always directly proportional to the value of threat (code H) and vulnerability (code V), which in theory is often formulated with the arrangement R = H x V.
“The value of R becomes low when H and V are low. R is moderate if H is high and V is low or R is moderate if H is low and V is high. On the other hand, R becomes high when H and V are both high,” he explained.
Ichwan reminded, if R is high, the government is obliged to make various mitigation and risk reduction efforts in accordance with Law Number 24 of 2007 concerning Disaster Management.
“Come on, with this simple formula we can all assess the risk of falling trees around us,” he invited.
An assumption that refers to the fact that the majority of the main causes of fallen trees are due to strong winds. Ichwan assessed that the threat or H factor in the Tulungagung area is high due to the frequent occurrence of strong winds and damage almost every year.
Meanwhile, in terms of potential or level of vulnerability, PPLH Mangkubumi is based on the fact that a series of tree falls on the side of the road or in the green lane, some of which have an impact on damage and even human casualties, so that the V value is high.
“So the risk of falling trees or RPT = H high x V high, so that the R value is categorized as very high,” he said.
In Ichwan’s opinion, the frequency of high winds occurring is higher due to the presence of new sources of heat on the earth’s surface due to deforestation and forest clearing (forestation).
“The frequency of incidents can be reduced by planting more trees so that a lot of CO2 is absorbed and oxygen and water vapor will cool the area,” he said.
Ichwan added, complex calculations in risk management for fallen trees are needed to be able to decipher the problems that arise / occur.
He assumes that the H value that comes from the wind remains high. However, when strong winds hit not all buildings and trees fell, this means that the trees collapsed due to problems, while trees that do not fall have no problem.
Source: antarajatim.com editor Chandra Hamdani Noer
