How the City Copes :

A case study from Mt. Merapi volcano eruption in Indonesia

Question:
How does culture contribute to peoples vulnerability and capacity? What can be learned from the way local communities help each other in times of disaster?

Presentation Outline
Introduction Evacuation behaviour - perceptions of risk Framing of calamity - ownership of disaster Conclusion

Mt. Merapi eruption 2010: Introduction 2 provinces and 4 districts affected 309 died 396,407 evacuated 716 evacuation shelters

Evacuation Behaviour & Perception of Risk

Perception of risk
People calculate risks...in various cultural and individual ways...people construct their vulnerability, including at times the denial of it.
Oliver-Smith, Anthony and M. Hoffman, Susannah. 1999. The Angry Earth: Disaster in Anthropological Perspective. London: Routledge

City and the mountain

Image source: www.jogjapedia.com (from the book Keraton Jogja)

How do people perceive the mountain?

Mountain as a living being

Eruption is an acceptable risk

Cattle = lifetime saving

Lack in disaster preparedness

Evacuation shelter built within 10 km zone Ad-hoc decicions in using public spaces for evacuation

Framing of Calamity
Media creates new myths by blaming myth victimhood Presence of the state

State VS common people

Video: TV report
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDH1spDiedk&feature=related

Ownership of Disaster
Holopis Kuntul Baris

People opened their doors for evacuees Wrapped rice movement

Digital natives (Prensky, 2003)

built from informal interactions the stranger factor

Conclusions:
Local value perceptions of risk must be understood and utilized for public education Preemptive planning: evacuation shelter, warning information flow Local coping strategy: safe residential areas as alternative Engage community radios, social media groups for information-sharing and mobilizing resources in emergencies

The crucial point in understanding why disasters happen is that...they are also the product of social, political and economical environments.
Wisner, Blaikie, Canon and Davis. 1994. At Risk: natural hazards, peoples vulnerability and disasters London: Routledge.

Anthropological approach to disaster:

Cultural systems (the beliefs, behaviors, and institutions characteristic of a particular society or group) figure at the center of that societys disaster vulnerability, preparedness, mobilization, and prevention.
Henry, D Anthropological Contributions to the Study of Disasters. In Disciplines, Disasters and Emergency Management: The Convergence and Divergence of Concepts, Issues and Trends From the Research Literature. D. McEntire and W. Blanchard, eds. Emittsburg, Maryland: Federal Emergency Management Agency. http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/edu/ddemtextbook.asp

Evacuation Behaviour

Centralized evacuation shelters VS sporadic evacuation to residential areas

Preemptive Planning (Miho Mazareeuw) Not to rely on singular measure of defense You cant prevent things by management and engineering... people need to know where to evacuate, and it has to be a community-based effort.

Preemptive planning based on local peoples coping strategy could have improved the disaster response

Define public spaces as evacuation shelter Safe residential areas as alternative