The myth of disaster recovery: Thousands still homeless a year after eruption of Merapi

October 29, 2011 – INDONESIA –  A year ago this week Mount Merapi kicked off a series of eruptions that would become its most violent in more than a century, killing more than 300 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless. Fast-moving clouds of superheated gas and ash scorched entire villages as they raced from the crater down the volcano’s slopes. It was in one of these pyroclastic flows on Oct. 26, 2010, that killed Mbah Maridjan, the legendary “keeper” of Merapi, after he refused calls to evacuate. The eruptions peaked on Nov. 5, with a spectacular ash plume extending 14 kilometers into the atmosphere. Also on that date, 88 people were killed when a torrent of lava destroyed their village 17 kilometers from the crater. The eruption also sent a rain of lava descending on villages up to 30 kilometers away.  It was not until early December that the rumbling eased and the eruptions were officially declared over. But the disaster did not end there. The rainy season that year and into early 2011 washed millions of tons of ash deposits that had blanketed Merapi’s slopes into the series of rivers running down to Yogyakarta, Magelang and other parts of Central Java. These torrents of mud, or lahar, washed out entire bridges, cut off roads and flooded homes and fields for months after the eruptions first began. Tens of thousands of people were made homeless by the lahar and the imposition of a 20-kilometer exclusion radius around the volcano’s crater. A year later, many are still living in temporary shelters, despite government pledges to build them new homes in safer areas. “It’s all just talk, there are no new homes for us,” said Asihono, Mbah Maridjan’s third son and Merapi’s new keeper. “There are now 2,863 families from Kinorejo who are still waiting for the homes,” he adds, referring to his father’s home village in Yogyakarta’s Sleman district. “The situation in Kinorejo is as you’d expect: everything is scorched and it’s going to take a long time before it returns to the way it was. In the year that we’ve lived in the shelter, we’ve only received government aid three times.” The story is much the same for the residents of nearby Wukirsari and Ngancar villages, where residents have slowly returned and now live in tiny bamboo shacks. The government previously said it would build 2,600 new homes in Wukirsari, but it has only completed 600. “We don’t know what to do,” said Basuki, a villager. “We’re having to make do as best as we can while we wait for the government’s next move.” In Ngancar, the main concern now is how the flimsy shacks will cope with the imminent monsoons. “It’s not just about leaky roofs,” said village chief Teguh. “We’re also worried because the drainage system no longer works. We just want permanent homes so we can get on with our lives.” –Jakarta Globe