Lecturer of the UGM Faculty of Geography Mukhamad Ngainul Malawani was awarded the 2021 Prix Mahar Schützenberger for his research on the impact of the eruption of the ancient Samalas volcano in 1257. The Prix Mahar Schützenberger is a prestigious award from the Association Franco-Indonésienne pour le Développement des Sciences (AFIDES) for young Indonesian researchers pursuing their Ph.D. in France in recognition of their scientific research.
Malawani explained that his research investigated the 3000-year landscape evolution of Lombok island post the Samalas eruption. The eruption is one of the most devastating volcanic eruptions (VEI 7) in history that caused the destruction of past human civilization on Lombok island and changes in the landscape of the island.
“To find out the impact of the eruption on humans at that time, I referred to historical documents such as the Lombok Chronicle (Babad Lombok) as a source of information on the past Lombok civilization,” he said on Thursday (30/9).
The Lombok Chronicle is one of the oldest documents that record the Samalas disaster and the civilization response afterward. There were also indications of possible landslides on the Samalas slopes, making it the largest volcanic landslide in Indonesia.
This research is a collaborative work between Universitas Gadjah Mada and the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, which also received support from the University of Mataram and several collaborators from Indonesia and abroad. Malawani is the fifth Geography lecturer to receive this award. Previous lecturers who have won this award include Danang Sri Hadmoko in 2008, Estuning Tyas Wulan Mei in 2012, Sandy Budi Wibowo in 2015, and Bachtiar Wahyu Mutaqin in 2018.
Author: Khansa