Simulation of Oil Spill Pollution due to Tsunami in Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Cilacap, located on the south coast of Java Island, is an “oil and gas city”. Cilacap has many oil refineries, storage, and loading & unloading facilities. However, these facilities’ existence is threatened by the potential for earthquakes and tsunami in Cilacap because Cilacap is very close to the Eurasia and Indo-Australian plates’ subduction zone. The earthquake and tsunami waves can damage these facilities and cause secondary disasters, namely oil spill pollution. The first step to anticipate is to predict the direction and distribution of the oil spill due to tsunami through simulation and numerical modeling. This simulation and modeling used the TUNAMI model, hydrodynamic model, and spill analysis model based on the worst-case scenario (Mw 9.0 earthquake). This study simulates and models the oil spill in the west and east monsoons. Based on this simulation and modeling result, we know that the direction and distribution of the oil spill in the west and east monsoons are relatively the same and move more dominantly in the current direction. The spread of the oil spill caused by the tsunami was faster than the oil spill in general. Some of the oil spills spread inland more than 1 km north of the Teluk Penyu coast. The authors expect this study’s results can be used as material for preparing of contingency plans for handling oil spills to minimize negative impacts.