MAGELANG – Merapi Disaster Mitigation Task Force Team (SMBM), UGM Faculty of Engineering, Wednesday evening (22/12), conducted the campaign for disaster risk reduction of the cold lava flood through Waton puppet performances at the Cipto Budaya studio, Tutup Ngisor sub-village, Sumber Village, Dukun Sub District, Magelang. One member of the team, Prof. Dr. Dwikorita Karnawati, M.Sc., took part in the performance of the Waton puppet with the title of "Golek Banyu Bening(looking for the clear water)."
Dwikorita performed the dialogue with the players and interact with the audience. She stressed the importance of the community to always be alert to the dangers of cold lava flood by knowing the signs. "The most important thing is to save yourselves and get your children, wives and old people to get to the safe place," said the head of UGM geology department.
In the event of lava flood, Dwikorita ask people to save themselves and not stay in the home for long or not in the area about 300 meters from the riverbank. "You should be away between 500 m to 1 km from the river," she explained.
The UGM landslide expert also explained a few things that must be prepared and taken when leaving the house. One of them is to pack in securities such as diplomas, certificates of house and other securities. "Bring also medicines, drinking water, and flashlight when leaving the house at night," she said.
The event performance which took place at 20:00 until 22:30 was witnessed by the residents of Tutup Ngisor sub-village and the surrounding areas. Children and adults present and packed the room. Many of them had to willingly stand to watch the humorous show.
The storyline that was played by 24 players brings out the messages about the importance of maintaining personal safety during a lava flood. It is narrated, the family of Mr. Bayan panicked and got confused when they heard the announcement about lava flood coming from Mount Merapi. They were asked to evacuate. A heated debate occured between Mr. Bayan and his wife. The wife insisted on bringing all her household electronic goods like TVs, refrigerator and fans to be saved. Likewise, the neighbors also plans to bring blankets, mattresses and mats as well as gas stoves to the evacuation camps in order to stay comfortably during the evacuation. Amid the debate, Dwikorita appeared on stage to explain to the Mr. Bayan’s family to prioritize on personal safety than their property.
The chief of Cipto Budoyo Community, Sitrat Anjilin, who became the puppeteer in the Waton puppet performance claimed that his group performed this Waton puppet for the fourth time in December for the campaign of cold lava flood disaster risk reduction. Previously, it was performed at the Jumoyo and Mantingan Villages.
In each performance, said the Waton puppeteer, he mostly displayed of the humorous story to attract the enthusiasm. "We intentionally display a lot of humor to be more communicative with the audience," he said.
His team usually brought 24 people of crew. “For the big performance, we can bring the crew up to 70 people," said the father of two children who claimed that all the crew is residents living in the vicinity of his studio.
In relation to the theme raised in the performance that is associated with water, Sitrat calmly said that title "Golek Banyu Bening (looking for the clear water)" is meant to remind people about the importance of water as a source of human life. "So that people know that water is very important. If there is water, there is also the future," he concluded.