Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) head Dwikorita Karnawati after the opening of the ASEAN Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise (ARDEX) in Yogyakarta on Tuesday (August 1, 2023). (ANTARA/Luqman Hakim)
YOGYAKARTA – The Yogyakarta International Airport (YIA) in Kulon Progo district, Yogyakarta is the first airport in the ASEAN with earthquake- and tsunami-resistant construction, Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) head Dwikorita Karnawati said.
"It is the only airport in ASEAN that has been prepared to resist a magnitude 8.5 earthquake and a tsunami of up to 10 meters in height," she said after the opening of the ASEAN Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise (ARDEX) in Yogyakarta on Tuesday.
ARDEX is being held in Bantul district, Yogyakarta, from August 1–4, 2023.
As the building has been designed to be earthquake- and tsunami-resistant, it is hoped that people will not run out of the airport when a disaster occurs, Karnawati said.
According to her, the second floor and the mezzanine floor of the YIA building have been designed as safe evacuation points when an earthquake and tsunami waves of up to 10 meters high strike.
She said the building can accommodate up to 10,000 people.
"Those who do not have a safe place to evacuate will be directed to the airport," she said.
During the simulation exercise on Tuesday, she expressed appreciation for the regional government of Yogyakarta and the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), which has been deemed advance in providing education on disaster mitigation to the local community, especially in anticipating earthquakes around the Opak-Oyo fault.
"During the last earthquake in southern Bantul, the magnitude was quite high, (at around magnitude) 6. If it occurs in other districts and provinces, with relatively the same magnitude and depth, the damage would be massive, but, at that time, it was only light and very light," she explained. (Antara)
