Katherine Donovan School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Plymouth

Transcription

1 Disaster Risk Reduction for Natural Hazards: Putting research into Practice Katherine Donovan School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Plymouth

2 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

3 Cultural reactions. Religious reactions. Local knowledge can aid mitigation. Reactions can cause a failure to take action. Case studies: Positive - Simeulue Island, Indonesia people self evacuated during 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. (Source: McAdoo et al. 2006) Negative - Mt Agung, Bali, Indonesia 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)

4 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, 18 th May How and what extent does culture affect people s reaction to volcanic hazards?

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6 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

7 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. Batur

8 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.

9 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.

10 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.

11 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

12 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.

13 Conventional GIS risk maps missing data? Interpolation

14 Source: Utami (2008)

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16 A special thank you goes to Aris, Zunly and Heriyah of The Inter-Cultural Institute, Yogyakarta.

17 Chester et al. (2000), The increasing exposure of cities to the effects of volcanic eruptions: a global survey, Global Environ Change Part B: Environ Haz, 2(3): Chester et al. (2008), The importance of religion in shaping volcanic risk perception in Italy, with special reference to Vesuvius and Etna, JVGR, 172 (3-4) 20: Donovan(2009) Doing social volcanology: an Indonesian case study, Area, in early view. Krajick (2005) Geology - Tracking myth to geological reality. Science 310: McAdoo et al.(2006) Smong: How an oral history saved thousands on Indonesia's Simeulue Island during the December 2004 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 modern societal response to volcanic disasters, J VGR 176: Schlehe (1996), Reinterpretations of Mystical Traditions: explanations of volcanic eruption in Java, Anthropos, 92: Utami (2008) Measuring social vulnerability in volcanic hazards: The case study of Merapi Volcano, Indonesia, Master of Science thesis, University of Bristol. Thouret, J-C. and Lavigne, F., (2005) Hazards and Risks at Gunung Merapi, Central Java: A case study, In. Gupta, A., (Ed). The physical Geography of Southeast Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.