Mount Merapi post-2010 eruptions: The challenge of resettlement policies

The effectiveness of disaster mitigation and management has a lot to do with policies of the assigned authorities. Elaborate policies may be well-meaning but if they are too time consuming the results may be less than expected. This paper takes a look at the impact of disaster management policies of the Indonesian authorities with respect to the aftermath of the Mount Merapi’s 2010 eruptions. The most active volcano in Indonesia, Mount Merapi, had erupted on October 26 and November 4 of 2010 burying several villages and killing 386 people. The extent of the physical damages and the social costs of the eruptions had stirred a policy debate as to how best to manage and mitigate the disaster. A new relocation model was conceived whereby the government undertook the task of resettling residents affected by the disaster and prohibiting future settlement of the disaster area. Although the new policies had all the making of permanently alleviating the social and economic impacts of the disaster, its reliance on voluntary participation of the people affected means that it will take a long time for the well-meaning policies to be fully implemented and produce the desired results.