Jakarta – The results of a Median survey show that the majority of respondents stated that human factors were the cause of the flash floods that hit a number of areas in Sumatra late last year.
This survey was a poll of social media users. The data was collected on January 9-13 with a target sample of one thousand respondents.
"The human factor was seen as more the cause of the disaster at around 85.3 percent, yes. Then natural factors at only 14.5 percent", said Median Director Rico Marbun on Tuesday January 20.
Marbun explained that out of this total, 66.2 percent of respondents said the disaster in Sumatra occurred because of deforestation or the denudation of forests.
Then, land use conversion at 6.3 percent, illegal mining activities at 4.4 percent and palm oil plantation expansion at 3.8 percent.
"Those that said extreme rainfall [was the cause] were only 11.5 percent", he said.
For those that cited natural causes, respondents also mentioned several other things, such as natural geographic conditions (2.1 percent), global climate change (0.4 percent) and erosion and or landslides (0.2 percent).
"That's the minority that are like that, yes, that's the cause according to the minority. Meanwhile, the majority [say] it's the factor of human negligence itself", he said.
At the same time, the survey also measured the level of public satisfaction with the central government's handling of the Sumatran disaster. The result was that 38.3 percent said they were satisfied while 59.0 percent said they were dissatisfied.
Marbun explained several points that respondents cited who expressed dissatisfaction. The result was handling appears to be slow at 26.8 percent, inadequate assistance at 10.4 percent and that it was not declared a national disaster at 3.4 percent.
"The distribution of aid that is uneven at 2.8 percent, a lack of efforts to prevent disasters at 2.1 percent. So the main reason is that the handling appears to be slow", he said.
"I don't think this means that the government is not doing anything, but perhaps one of the inputs that we can get from the results of this survey is that there needs to be sustained and rapid communication", he added.
Meanwhile, for respondents who claimed they were satisfied with the central government's performance, 16.1 percent thought that the central government had responded well, 5.2 percent considered logistical assistance adequate and 5.1 percent said the work was maximal.
Aside from this, the survey also recorded that 86.7 percent of respondents agreed that the Sumatra flood disaster should have been declared a national disaster. Of the total respondents who agreed, 37.7 percent agreed because they believed the disaster had a very broad impact.
"Meanwhile, those who disagreed with this disaster being declared a national disaster [said it was] because they feel that regional governments were capable of handling it at 2.9 percent and the disaster only occurred on the island of Sumatra at 1.3 percent", he said. (mnf/dal)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Survei: 85,3 Persen Nyatakan Banjir Sumatra Faktor Manusia".]
