2019 Volume 6 Pages 111-124
Relocating a settlement often becomes a post-disaster solution in cases when a disaster strikes and leaves people homeless. One of the disasters which can bring such kind of impact is a volcanic eruption. The study case on the relocated settlement in Merapi volcano area, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, is considered as one of best practices for a relocation project in Indonesia which was driven by the massive losses incurred from the large eruption in 2010. The project was facilitated by the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program Community-based society (REKOMPAK) which had the community play a central role at every decision and action. However, even as the best practices in Indonesia, this project was also obstructed by a major issue which usually occurs in the relocation project, that being project deniers. There were 656 households insisted on returning to their previous house. Moreover, until the end of the second year after the project finished, about 100 additional households also decided to go back from the relocated settlement to their previous settlement.
The objective of this study is to identify the impact of relocating the settlement by comparing the satisfaction of the inhabitants in the relocated settlement with the satisfaction of the inhabitants who declined the project and persisted in building houses on their own. A questionnaire survey was conducted in September-October 2016 to the inhabitants of the both types of settlements consisting of 62 respondents which were the representatives of each local neighborhood. There were 49 respondents from the relocated settlement and 13 respondents from the in-situ reconstruction settlement.
Based on a principal component analysis (PCA) result, the project impact can be observed on six variables which are (1) community participation, (2) new settlement satisfaction, (3) project satisfaction, (4) community empowerment, (5) infrastructure satisfaction, and (6) public facility satisfaction. Built from the value of these variables, the inhabitants of both settlements were classified into five clusters. The interpretation of these clusters shows that the relocation also gave different impacts among the inhabitants within the same relocation project. Even though they moved together to the same relocated settlement, they perceived the different impacts. Furthermore, detailed by the cluster distribution and reconstruction process, the result implied that the location aspect, demography structure, inhabitant’s distribution in the new dwellings, the bonds between neighbors, and community’s participation to the development program are the main problems that occurred inside these settlements. Thus, based on this finding, the result can be used as a consideration for constructing further improvement program.
