SIGAP

Lead Argorejo village as it responds to the volcanic eruption of Mount Merapi

Take a role as a resident of Argorejo village, Indonesia. Help create a robust and resilient disaster reduction plan, lead an evacuation and make difficult choices. SIGAP presents strategies and challenges to help achieve community resilience within the active volcanic zone of Central Java, Indonesia.

Argorejo is a village on the slopes of Mount Merapi. Argorejo village is located on the south side of Merapi, approximately 10-15 km from the Merapi crater.

Like other villages on the slopes of Merapi, most of the villagers have a livelihood as farmers and breeders. Meanwhile, few of them work in tourism sector and sand mining activities located in the neighboring village, namely the Megapermana Village.

Due to its proximity to the Merapi crater and because it is traversed by the Gendol River, this village serves as buffer zone for the Merapi eruption. There are two types of Merapi disasters in Argorejo Village:

(a) Direct eruptions, both in the form of hot clouds and hot lava

(b) Cold lava flooding

In the 2010 eruption, Argorejo Village was one of the villages that was directly affected by the eruption and its hot clouds. The death toll reached more than 70 people, along with the death of many farm animals, as well as damage to rice fields, farms and houses. At that time, more than 7000 people was evacuated to a safer location.