2022 Volume 2021 Issue 2 Pages 31-42
Employing the Index of Perceived Community Resilience (IPCR), this paper measures resilience levels of two relocated communities in the aftermath of volcanic eruptions in Indonesia. Study results revealed that in general these communities had strong and increased resilience, in contrast to previous studies that suggested in most cases the relocation process could have negative impacts on affected communities. It is likely that the good practice of community-led relocation, the collective decision for relocation, preservation of key characteristics of the original community and the strong cultural value of gotong-royong resulted in our study communities' robust resilience. However, results further indicated a great difference in resilience levels between the two communities' studied, an unexpected result given their similarities. This difference confirmed previous findings indicating the major influence of context on overall resilience. Surprisingly, despite their high resilience, these communities expected to receive permission to return to their old hamlets that had been classified as high risk and so prohibited for settlement. Results of this study amplify previous findings suggesting that planning for disasters and disaster recovery must be based on conceptual, theoretical and intervention models that acknowledge place and temporal specificity in the level or intensity of local resilience.
