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Katherine Donovan
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Plymouth
Disaster Risk Reduction for Natural Hazards: Putting research into Practice
Geoculture
Social volcanology at Mt Merapi
2007 Cultural reactions to volcanic eruptions
2009 mapping culture and evacuation failure
Source: Modified from Chester et al. (2000) JVGR
Cultural reactions.
Religious reactions.
Local knowledge can aid mitigation.
Reactions can cause a failure to take action.
Case studies: Positive -Simeulue Island, Indonesia. 78000 people self evacuated during
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.(Source: McAdoo et al. 2006)
Negative - Mt Agung, Bali, Indonesia . 1963 killed over 1000 people Deities descending from the
volcano.
Geomythology – Seattle, Washington, USA, A’yhoos Native Americans mapping out
seismic fault lines.(Source: Krajick 2005)
“But the local people do not listen to government
officials. They listen to Marijan, the old "gate-keeper" to
the volcano who enjoys an intimate spiritual relationship
with Merapi.” – BBC news, 18th May 2006.
How and what extent does culture
affect people’s reaction to volcanic
hazards?
Extremely active volcano
Densely populated region
Over one million people living within 10 km of summit dome.
Source: University of Maryland, GLCF and BPPTK 2006, BAKOSURNATAL 2001
Batur
Duel motivation –government and traditional warning signs
Supernatural creatures, ceremonies, signs and taboos
Location, experience, hazard map.
Relationship – cultural intensity and evacuation failure?
Donovan (on early view) Area.
Does the geoculture at Mt Merapi make residents more or less vulnerable?
Return to Indonesia in January 2009:
Volcano wide survey
To :
Map changes in cultural intensity and evacuation failure
Finally:
Incorporate culture into a risk map for Mt Merapi.
2009 survey
Volcano wide survey
Cultural Intensity
Ceremonies
Personification of volcano
Signs
Taboos
Supernatural creatures
Evacuation failure
• Evacuated in 2006
• Would evacuate in future
• Opinion of head of village and head of hamlets.
2009 survey
Volcano wide survey
Cultural Intensity
Ceremonies
Personification of volcano
Signs
Taboos
Supernatural creatures
Evacuation failure
• Evacuated in 2006
• Would evacuate in future
• Opinion of head of village and head of hamlets.
Cultural intensity
North and northwest –culturally intense
• Strong beliefs in supernatural creatures
• Isolated
• Low hazard perception
South and Southwest – less culturally intense
• Stronger Islamic presence
• Further from the summit
East – mixed
• Wind
• Drought
• Gunung Bibi/Ijo
2009 survey
Volcano wide survey
Cultural Intensity
Ceremonies
Personification of volcano
Signs
Taboos
Supernatural creatures
Evacuation failure
• Evacuated in 2006
• Evacuated on a diurnal basis/part time.
• Would evacuate in future
• Opinion of head of village and head of hamlets.
Conventional GIS risk maps – missing data? Interpolation
Source: Utami (2008)
A special thank you goes to Aris , Zunly and Heriyah of The Inter-Cultural Institute, Yogyakarta.
http://[email protected]
Chester et al. (2000), The increasing exposureof cities to the effects of volcaniceruptions: a global survey, GlobalEnviron Change Part B: Environ Haz,2(3):89-103.
Chester et al. (2008), The importance ofreligion in shaping volcanic riskperception in Italy, with specialreference to Vesuvius and Etna , JVGR,172 (3-4) 20: 216-228.
Donovan(2009) Doing social volcanology: anIndonesian case study, Area, in earlyview.
Krajick (2005) Geology - Tracking myth togeological reality. Science 310: 762-4
McAdoo et al.(2006) Smong: How an oralhistory saved thousands on Indonesia'sSimeulue Island during the December2004 and March 2005 tsunamis.Earthquake Spectra 22: S661-S9.
Cashman, K.V., and Cronin, S.J., (2008),Welcoming a monster to the world:Myths, oral tradition and modernsocietal response to volcanic disasters,J VGR 176: 407 - 418
Schlehe (1996), Reinterpretations ofMystical Traditions: explanations ofvolcanic eruption in Java, Anthropos, 92:391-409.
Utami (2008) Measuring social vulnerability involcanic hazards: The case study ofMerapi Volcano, Indonesia, Master ofScience thesis, University of Bristol.
Thouret, J-C. and Lavigne, F., (2005) Hazardsand Risks at Gunung Merapi, CentralJava: A case study, In. Gupta, A.,(Ed). The physical Geography ofSoutheast Asia. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.
