ABSTRACT
Southern Malang is one of the hazardous areas in East Java, Indonesia. The natural hazard can be seen by the experience of flash floods at Sitiardjo Village, Southern Malang 1932–1939. This paper focuses on the history of flash floods and their impact on the indigenous people of Sitiardjo. The author uses a historical method to analyze this past event. Through the combination of perusing colonial archives and some kinds of literature, and also deep interviews, this paper shows that the flash floods at Sitiardjo occurred since the 19th century. But, the big ones are the 1932 and 1939 flash floods. This research also finds that Sitiarjo could never escape from flash floods. It is because Sitiarjo has a unique topography, dominated by carbonate material (karst) areas, and the lowlands are in the river basin. This area is also passed by the Panguluran River, which starts flooding when the river water increases. Flash floods were destructing everything in Sitiardjo, such as the traditional market, houses, livestock, rice field, health clinic, Sitiardjo Bridge, Christian settlement, and also the Church.
