My name is Muhammad Zhafran Yudhistira, a student of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science (FMIPA) Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

This is the story how my team and I won The Most Outstanding Idea in the Science category at the Tanoto Student Research Award (TSRA) for our tsunami detector device.

A tsunami is a natural disaster that can cause damage and claim a large numbers of lives, as happened in Palu and Aceh. These two incidents have certainly made an impression on the minds of many Indonesians; we feel that something should be done to reduce the impact of this disaster in the future.

In class, we learn many things about the environment and how a phenomenon can happen: we also learn to measure a phenomenon and learn the basics of sensors. In our lectures on measurement methods, we were trained to be able to learn the early signs of natural disasters such as floods, landslides, and tsunamis so we can help the community.

In August 2020, I heard that the Tanoto Student Research Award (TSRA) National competition was open. Tanoto Foundation is an independent family philanthropy organisation founded by Sukanto Tanoto and Tinah Bingei Tanoto in 1981. We formed a team, with me as a group leader with Mozaki and Yoma, supervised by Mr. Mikrajuddin Abdullah, our lecturer.

In Indonesia, the tsunami detector system is still classified as an ineffective device because it cannot detect in real-time, is very expensive, and is prone to be stolen. So we were determined to make a better tsunami detector. The problem we faced was to find the right reference and data as the basis for testing. We also found a journal that contained low tide velocity data during the tsunami tragedy in Palu, Central Sulawesi.

During the testing process, we experienced failure while trying our detection device. After experiencing three glitches, finally, our device succeeded in detecting low tide by measuring water velocity at different depths – a cheaper and more efficient method.

This project won a competition against teams from other big universities. My team and I are grateful for being able to get a lot of guidance and learning that helped us get here.

I learned a lot of useful lessons from this TSRA National Competition. I also found friends who had bright ideas in this competition. We will publish our work in a journal so the device can be used on a large scale to reduce the number of victims affected by future tsunamis.

2020 was an unprecedented year, but one in which Tanoto Foundation, an independent family philanthropy organisation founded by Sukanto Tanoto and Tinah Bingei Tanoto in 1981, remained committed to efforts to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to fulfil his or her full potential. We continued with our work on early childhood development and education, including prevention of stunting; efforts to increase the competence of educators; the development of future leaders; and of course helping communities impacted by Covid-19.

Tanoto Foundation distributed assistance worth IDR157 billion in the year to support our mission and to help those affected by the pandemic.

We worked with 588 partner schools or schools that are fully funded by the Tanoto Foundation, and more than 2,000 government and private schools, to enhance basic education in Indonesia by improving teaching quality and school leadership through our PINTAR programme.

We partnered with 13 Institute of Teachers Education throughout Indonesia to improve the competence of prospective teachers and provide ideas and lesson plans that can be used in both online and offline classrooms.

We also provided scholarships to 172 university students to help develop the next generation of Indonesian leaders, bringing to more than 7,500 the number of scholars Tanoto Foundation has supported since 2005.

Tanoto Foundation also continued to work towards our goal of helping reduce the rate of stunting among children in Indonesia to below 20% by 2030, including by collaborating with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to become a founding member of the World Bank’s Multi Donor Trust Fund for Indonesia Human Capital Acceleration. Both foundations have committed a total of US$4 million to support and accelerate whole-of-government stunting reduction efforts.

Part of the funds will be used to support the training of 72,636 Human Development Workers recruited by the government to ensure the delivery of intervention to address stunting. 

We supported UNICEF Indonesia to develop the adapted version of the Early Childhood Development Instrument (ECDI) and the Caregiver-Reported Early Development Index (CREDI) for Indonesia, which will allow better measurement and therefore understanding of the current landscape in the country. 

To help the country combat Covid-19 we partnered with Temasek Foundation International and GSI Lab in Jakarta to provide a PCR testing machine to boost daily testing capacity.

In April 2020, the Tanoto Foundation donated 1 million masks, 1 million gloves, 3,000 goggles and 100,000 protective suits for medical personnel which were handed over to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB). 

In August 2020, the Tanoto Foundation also donated 10,200 PCR Test Kits complete with Viral Nucleic Acid Extraction Kit and Viral Transport Medium to BNPB. 

Our Communication Director, Haviez Gautama, said that the increase in distribution of philanthropic funds was a manifestation of Tanoto Foundation’s long-term commitment to remain focused on sustainable programs and helping people who are facing many difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

For further information of Tanoto Foundation’s 2020 highlights can be read here.