Economic Rationality of Residents Living in the Area Prone to Merapi Volcanic Disaster

Abstract

The research concerned here was to know the economic rationality of residents who dwelled again in their former village after the eruption of Mount Merapi in 2010 and refused to be relocated by the government. A combined research method, namely, a combination between a qualitative method and a quantitative one, was used to uncover the rationality. The qualitative part of the research was conducted first by deciding informants considered knowledgeable about the matter under research. Then the informants were interviewed in turns decided via snowball sampling. Some secondary data were used to support the qualitative research. As for the quantitative part of the research, it was conducted afterwards by turning members of the households in the village into respondents. The finding of the research is as follows. The residents perceive the disaster not only as a dangerous natural phenomenon but also as an economic blessing because tourists' visits to the areas suffering from the impact of the disaster enable residents to have activities that have economic value. That economic rationality was what motivated them to return to their village though its condition is categorized by the government as unfit for dwelling.

Gender perspectives on agroforestry practices in Mt. Merapi hazards and risks prone area of Indonesia

“…Additionally, they felt connected with their ancestors. These findings are supported by Napsiah et al (2017), who showed that people who live in Mt. Merapi enjoy the economic blessings of the area, such as fertile land and tourist visits.…”

Defining population socio-economic characteristics, hazard knowledge and risk perception: The adaptive capacity to persistent volcanic threats from Semeru, Indonesia

“…Table 10 displays parameters to estimate resilience among Semeru's population. Results acquired on exposure, hazard knowledge-risk perception and associated variablespreparedness around the volcano are significant when compared with studies of community response to volcanic crises in Indonesia, e.g., at Bromo (Bachri et al, 2015) and Merapi, Java (Dove, 2008;Lavigne et al 2008;Mei et al, 2012;Napsiah et al, 2017), and Sinabung, Sumatra (Andreastuti et al, 2019). The latter study compares the ongoing Sinabung and 2014 Kelud unrest cases to highlight factors that influence a community response at the time of an imminent eruption.…”

The Community Resilience in Volcanic Disaster-Prone Area

“…For Pangukrejo people, their land is a source of livelihood to build houses and to do economic activities such as raising stock and farming, which are all done on the land. Therefore, even though the land has been devastated by the eruption of Mount Merapi, for them, the land remains useful as a source of livelihood that must be maintained [13,14].…”

“…There have been many studies of people surviving in disastrous areas, such as the survivors from the eruption of Mount Merapi [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Similar studies on floods in Bangladesh have also been deliberately carried out by several researchers [15][16][17].…”