Disaster Risk Reduction for Natural Hazards:
Putting research into Practice
Katherine Donovan
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Plymouth
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Geoculture
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Social volcanology at
Mt Merapi
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2007 Cultural reactions
to volcanic eruptions
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2009 mapping culture
and evacuation failure
Source: Modified from Chester et al. (2000) JVGR
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Cultural reactions.
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Religious reactions.
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 78000 people self evacuated during
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
(Source: McAdoo et al. 2006)
Local knowledge can aid
mitigation.
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Case studies: Positive Simeulue Island, Indonesia.
Reactions can cause a failure to
take action.
Negative - Mt Agung, Bali,
Indonesia .
 1963 killed over 1000 people
 Deities descending from the
volcano.
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Geomythology – Seattle,
Washington, USA, A’yhoos
 Native Americans mapping out
seismic fault lines.
(Source: Krajick 2005)
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“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, 18th May 2006.

How and what extent does culture
affect people’s reaction to volcanic
hazards?
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Extremely active
volcano
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Densely populated
region
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Over one million
people living within 10
km of summit dome.
Source: University of Maryland, GLCF and BPPTK 2006,
BAKOSURNATAL 2001

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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
Conventional GIS risk maps – missing data?
Interpolation
Source: Utami (2008)
A special thank you goes to Aris , Zunly and Heriyah of The Inter-Cultural Institute,
Yogyakarta.
http://www.tici.or.id
ticiyogya@tici.or.id
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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):89-103.
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: 216-228.
Donovan(2009) Doing social volcanology: an
Indonesian case study, Area, in early
view.
Krajick (2005) Geology - Tracking myth to
geological reality. Science 310: 762-4
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.
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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: 407 - 418
Schlehe
(1996),
Reinterpretations
of
Mystical Traditions: explanations of
volcanic eruption in Java, Anthropos, 92:
391-409.
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.