ABSTRACT
Indonesia is one of the most naturally hazardous zones on earth. The archipelago is located along the pacific “ring of fire” where three major plates (the Eurasian Plate, the Australian Plate, and the Pacific Ocean Plate) meet deep down in the earth and create movement that produces earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes. Since the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami hit Indonesia and other nearby countries killing hundreds of thousands people in 2004, the country has had to face many other natural disasters. An aid worker even called Indonesia a “supermarket” of disasters, as almost all kinds of disasters can be found in this, the fourth most populous country in the world. For more than 20 years, I have been living in Yogyakarta, the region where
Merapi, one of the most active volcanoes on earth, is located. Within those years I myself have experienced major and minor eruptions and earthquakes many times. The major eruption in 2006 killed two people; in 2010 an eruption killed nearly 400. A huge earthquake in 2006 killed more than 6,000 people in Yogyakarta. While Indonesia’s geological position creates enormous natural risk, the
people know how to deal with these risks, because they have been living with them for a very long time. The interesting thing is how science, religion, and culture interpret these natural events differently, creating different and frequently conflicting approaches to deal with them. Ecological perspective may help to reconcile these different ways of thinking. Let us take the case of the Merapi volcano, which is one of the most sci-
entifically monitored volcanoes, a place that has huge spiritual, scientific, and cultural significance. Soaring up to 2,968 meters (9,738 feet) high and less than 30 kilometers away from the city of Yogyakarta, the Merapi volcano is the most active and dangerous of Indonesia’s 130 active volcanoes due to its short eruption period (every 1-7.5 years). The dense population living around its slope compounds the danger. There are 935-1,091 inhabitants per square kilometer on its slope, with more than 50,000 people living in the danger zone (Mei et al., 2013). The danger comes not only from the high speed and lifethreatening hot cloud or pyroclastic flow emitted by an eruption, but also
from the lava, poisonous gases, and volcanic materials or cold lava (lahar) that can be washed down by heavy rain, destroying anything in its way. Historical records show that since the fourteenth century there have been
61 eruptions of Merapi, which have killed 7,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. Among the most notable are the 1672 eruption, which killed 3,000 people, and the explosion in 1872, which took 200. The notable twentieth-century eruptions occurred in 1930-1931, 1954, and 1994, and took 1,400, 54, and 69 lives respectively (Mei et al., 2013). At the time of writing, the most recent eruptions were in 2006, burying two volunteers in more than 5 meters of hot ashes, and in 2010, when almost 400 villagers including the famous guardian or gatekeeper of Merapi, Mbah Marijan, were burned and washed away by the extremely high temperatures of the hot gas clouds. In 2010, 200,000 people were displaced. According to volcanologists, the 2010 eruption was the biggest within a cen-
tury, and part of Merapi’s 100-year cycle. Although the authorities were very well prepared for the hazard and reduced the victims of the eruption, there were still many people killed. Each time there is an eruption, some people within the danger zone refuse to evacuate their villages. They insist on staying in their homes to pray, believing that Merapi will not affect them or their village especially if the respected guardian or gatekeeper of Merapi is with them. These cultures have been living on the slope of Merapi for generations, dealing with the eruption for thousands of years. For a long time, disaster scientists had seen eruptions through the lens of
geophysics and volcanology as merely a volcanic hazard. They rarely addressed the perspectives and perceptions of the affected people, who have different ways of seeing Merapi and its eruptions. However, in the last decade there has been growing interest in the human perceptions of disaster, especially volcanic eruptions. Anthropologists are increasingly emphasizing the role of cultural factors in shaping people’s perceptions of natural hazards. A geographer, R. Kates, suggested that people’s perceptions of volcanic
hazards are influenced by several factors (as cited in Lavigne et al., 2008). First is the nature and feature of the natural hazard involved, such as the magnitude, duration, frequency, and temporal spacing of the events. Second is the frequency and intensity of the personal experiences of similar past events. Third are personality factors such as belief in fate or control over one’s life, and different views of nature. Scholars who study the Merapi contend that the feelings of security among
the villagers on the volcano’s slope are influenced by the strong belief that Merapi’s eruption would not affect them personally. This sense of safety is (again) influenced by the time lapse from the last huge eruption that happened at the beginning of the twentieth century; the distance between their village and the crater; the existence of visual obstacles such as hills or huge rocks between their village and the active vent; and the excessive sense of trust in the countermeasures against volcanic hazards built up by the government, e.g.
drainage tunnels, dams, and the early warning system (Lavigne et al., 2008). Apart from the scientific arguments about the feeling of safety of the people of Merapi, this feeling also comes from the belief that Yogyakarta is protected by the male spirit of Merapi, Eyang Sapu Jagad, and the female spirit of the Southern Sea, the Queen of Roro Kidul. Different views on the dangers of Merapi between scientific and governmental
authorities, on one hand, and the villagers in the danger zone, on the other, often create tensions. The authorities strongly warned people to move for the sake of their own safety, but the villagers strongly resisted, relying more on traditional knowledge and experiences rather than science. This tension is illustrated by the story of the guardian of Merapi and his
link to the Sultan, who is also the governor of Yogyakarta, on the verge of the 2010 eruption. Mbah Marijan was an 83-year-old, court-appointed guardian of Merapi. His main responsibility was to prepare and lead the labuhan ceremony on the slopes of Merapi, which was part of the Sultan’s court ritual to maintain a harmonious relationship between the spirit of Merapi, the Sultan, and the spirit of the Southern Sea. Since the 1994 eruption, the guardian has been frequently mentioned in local, national, and international newspaper stories about Merapi, and even in scholarly works about Merapi’s eruptions. His popularity mainly came from his rejection of evacuation orders each time Merapi erupted; he even refused the Sultan’s order to evacuate. Many people believe he had spiritual power to face Merapi’s eruptions. In the 2006 eruption, Mbah Marijan refused to evacuate even though the
hot lava and hot ash cloud could already be seen spewing from the crater. He stated, “Here I can pray for the safety of many people. If I move down I feel like I am just thinking about myself.” After that eruption, his reputation soared and his image was central to advertisements for a vitality booster product sold in many Indonesian stores. A German mayor even sent him a special invitation to watch the Olympic Games as his guest. According to Mbah Marijan, and to many Javanese people, Merapi is a
living being who deserves and needs to be understood and treated well. Indeed, since the volcano is older than human beings, it deserves more respect. Living very close to Merapi, he said he would often get a message from the volcano. Therefore, the guardian felt uncomfortable when people would say “Merapi is erupting” or “Merapi is exploding.” These words sounded disrespectful to him. “It is common for (modern) educated people to say that, but for me as an uneducated one, I would never say that. For me Merapi is constructing or developing.” He explained that eruptions are stimulated by human behavior, especially the excessive greediness of human beings. Humans have “destroyed nature and disturbed the life of non-human living beings [spirits] which reside parallel with humans.” In his opinion, Merapi has agency, it can spew its lava anytime as punishment. “When Merapi is ‘working’ [erupting] what I can do is just say assalamualaikum (a Muslim salutation, meaning “peace be upon you”), I hope
