Environmental Justice in the Natural
environment
The code river a unique situation now, a common situation in the future
Bachelor Thesis 03-08-2017
Naam: C de Vilder, C. de (Casper) Studentnummer: s4479165
Opleiding: Bachelor Geografie, Planologie en Milieu Onderwijsinstelling Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen Begeleider: Lothar Smith
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Preface
Dear reader,
In front of you lies my bachelor thesis which I wrote as part of the bachelor Geography, Planning and Environmental sciences of the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. This thesis was part of a special project, most of the writing of this thesis took place in Nijmegen, Netherlands. The actual research and fieldwork took place in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Even before I started studying I always had an interest in the global level, to see other countries all over the world and experience the different cultures of those countries. Especially developing countries appealed to me, because those countries still possess a unique culture that is completely different from my own. This bachelor is mainly focussed on the social site of geography; however, I am and always have been more
interested in the physical site of Geography. The beauty of this research is that it combines the social and physical site of geography and on top of that I could do the research in a beautiful country. I had never been to Asia before, Indonesia was my first Asian country I visited. It took some time adjusting to the Indonesian culture because it is so very different from my own culture. It also was my first time visiting a country not as a tourist but as researcher, talking with the people of the Code River area has been a genuinely interesting experience. The people of the code river are among the nicest people I have met during my travels, and I learned a great deal about them. I am very grateful for this opportunity, I therefore want to thank some people that helped me with this thesis.
First of all, I want to thank the friendly people of the Code River area, and all the respondents that were willing to take time and cooperate with this research. The people we spoke in the Code River area didn’t just cooperate they invited us into their homes, and offered us refreshments that were much appreciated. I would like to thank those people for their amazing hospitality. I would also like to thank one respondent, named Tree, in particular. Tree helped us a lot with finding new
respondents, but also invited us for a tour through the city, in the four weeks that we were in
Yogyakarta tree became a good friend. The last local I would like to thank is Agus, the best taxi driver I have ever met. Secondly, I would like to thank the geography department of the Radboud University that has given me this amazing opportunity. Special thanks to Lothar Smith, who has provided me with helpful feedback and insight along the way. Lastly, I would like to thank the Bureau of International Affairs from the Faculty Geography of Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta for receiving us and appointing us a supervisor and translators. Therefore, I would like to thank Dr. Rini Rachmawati, you have been a huge inspiration for this thesis and Ratih Paniti Sari & Faricha
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Summary
Yogyakarta lies at the foot of the Genung Merapi. The Merapi is known as the most active volcano of Indonesia, some of the effects of the volcano threaten each and every one, like the eruption in November of 2010.
‘’in the night of the 4th to the 5th November it was very dramatic let’s say, because we heard the volcano, the sounds, the thunder etcetera, yeah I was thinking this was the end of this city’’ (Interview: Estuning Tyas Wulan Mei)
Other effects however only threaten certain regions, one of these effects is known as a lahar. A lahar is a flowing mixture of volcanic debris, that is considered as one of the most dangerous phenomena of a volcano and is extremely difficult to cope with as well (Rachmawati, 2016). Lahars have a profound and dangerous impact for the people that live close to rivers. One of the rivers that has proven prone to lahars is known as the code river. The code river has in recent history seen many lahars, the last one followed up after the eruption of 2010. The river flows through the center of Yogyakarta, the area that it flows through is called the Code River area. The environment of the Code River area is especially exposed to lahars, and therefore is considered as a hazardous environment and unsafe place to live. However, the Code River area is one of the most populous and densely constructed areas in the city. This research provides in-depth insight in this situation and how this situation can be placed in a broader theory, namely the environmental justice theory. The
environmental justice theory was originally focused on human made environmental issues. The lahar that threatens the people of the code river, is a natural phenomenon. An external force where people do not have any direct influence on. However, in a way it becomes a human made problem, because people have settled in the impact area of the lahar, and therefore the lahar becomes a problem. Furthermore, through focusing on the consequences rather than on the nature of the event itself, the contemporary situation of the Code River area can be placed within the parameters of the Environmental justice theory. To establish a broad understanding of the people who live in the Code River area and of the environment a Qualitative deviant case study has been conducted in
Yogyakarta. Residents of three different villages in three different sub districts and local experts from the Gadjah Mada university have been interviewed. These interviews have created new insight in the Code River area situation.
in the 1950’s and 1960’s farmers from the rural areas surrounding Yogyakarta left for the city. They sold their land and with the money they got in return left for the city. However due to very low rural ground prices, the return the people got for their land was low. Therefore, when the people moved to the city, they had very little money. Consequently, they all ended up in the cheapest place to buy land in Yogyakarta, the Code River area . Moreover, they had been farmers their entire life and didn’t receive a form of education, so they were scarcely educated as well. Nowadays the people of the Code River area are in general still poor, and that has a pronounced effect on their mobility and vulnerability. Ground prices all over Yogyakarta are extremely high, thus the people have no choice but to stay in the Code River area . Moreover, the Code River area provides its residents with work because it is close to one of the main tourist attractions in the city, Malioboro. Malioboro provides work for many residents of the Code River area , but they would lose job if they would move to another part of the city. Due to economic reasons the people are forced to stay in the Code River area , and therefore have to bear the burden of their environment, that is the annual risks of lahars and floods. The fact that the people are poor makes them also more vulnerable towards the impact of natural disasters. Because due to a lack of money, construction of settlements is often of low quality and therefore less able to withstand the impact of a lahar. Also, because the people are poor
5 they cannot afford good education for themselves and for their family. Most importantly, because of this lack of money most of residents are preoccupied with surviving the challenges of the everyday. Since the first people moved into the Code River area they received little help from the government to mitigate the risks, or resolve the ‘’unjust’’ situation. The situation of the Code River area can be regarded unjust when one perceives it within the parameters of the Environmental justice theory. The consequences of environmental hazards and natural hazards are quite similar. The lahar
threatens the residents of the Code River area, it can potentially severely impact their environment. Moreover, the people have no mobility to move out of the area. As a consequence, the people are forced to bear the risks of their environment, risks which they cannot afford. What’s more for the greater part of the Code River area history the government has always maintained a ‘’passive role’’. Spatial planning, which could help with resolving the unsafe situation, has always been carried out without participation of the actual residents. The fact that the residents are poor, not well educated and are not included in the spatial planning of the area has made the Code River area a vulnerable and unjust place. But recent years things have started to change, the government is making changes in their planning approach. Nowadays the people have an opportunity to participate, and share his or her ideas with the government. However, because the people are poor and therefore already
preoccupied with the everyday, participation in the spatial planning of the area is low. Still, this change is a major step forward in addressing the environmental injustice of the Code River area, and is also necessary in the foreseeable future. With current and foreseeable trends in climate change, population growth and urbanization situations where people settle in hazardous environments will likely become more common. That is why it is important that lessons are learned from the code river situation, so these lessons can be applied in similar situations around the globe. For further
researchers, it would be interesting to return to the code river just after a lahar has happened. Because now the last lahar happened over 7 years ago, therefore the way people think about lahars and act towards the risks might differ.
6 Contents Preface ... 3 Summary ... 4 1. Chapter one ... 7 1.1 Introduction ... 7 1.2 Societal Relevance ... 8 1.2 Scientific Relevance ... 9 1.3 Research goal ... 9 1.4.1 Yogyakarta geography ... 10
Chapter 2 Unraveling Environmental Justice ... 11
2.1 Environmental Justice ... 11
2.2 Impact of Natural hazards ... 13
2.3 Vulnerability ... 14 2.3.1 Climate change ... 16 2.3.2 Urbanization ... 17 2.4 Research questions ... 18 2.4.1 Sub-questions ... 18 2.5 Conceptual model ... 20 3.0 Chapter three ... 21 3.1 Methodology ... 21 3.2 Research strategy ... 22 3.3 Research Material... 23 3.3.1 Literature ... 23 3.3.2 Interviews ... 23 3.3.3 Observations ... 24 3.3.4 List of Respondents ... 25 3.4 Reflection ... 26
Chapter 4 ‘’Indonesia one of the world’s most populous countries both in people and in natural disasters.’’ ... 28
4.1. Research area ... 28
4.1.1 History of the Code River area. ... 32
4.1.2 The current situation ... 32
The necessity of landownership ... 34
Chapter 5 The Code River area a vulnerable place ... 35
5.1 Demographic developments in Indonesia and stress on space ... 35
5.2 Vulnerability across time and space ... 37
5.3Political shortcomings ... 38
5.3 Political Vulnerability in time and space ... 39
5.4 The necessity of communities ... 40
5.5 From vulnerability to Environmental justice ... 40
Towards a new planning approach, effective on paper but also in reality? ... 41
Chapter 6 The code River A place of Environmental Injustice ... 43
6.1 Conclusion... 43
The start of the injustice ... 43
The immobility in modern times... 43
The fragility of the code river and the need for communities ... 44
6.2 Discussion ... 45
6.3 Recommendations ... 46
Chapter 7. Appendixes ... 47
7.1 Interview guide for the code river respondents ... 47
7.2 Interview guide for the experts ... 48
7.3 Source information: Department of Sociology ... 50
Chapter 8. References ... 51
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1. Chapter one
1.1 Introduction
Yogyakarta known as the cultural capital of Indonesia, and the home for over 3 million people. Yogyakarta located in central Java, the city has geographically an extraordinary position. The city is cut off by the Indian ocean in the south, and a huge volcano called the Merapi is located to the north of the city. The genung Merapi, genung is the Indonesian term for volcano, is known as the most active volcano of Indonesia (lavinge, 2000). The Merapi and its effects threaten the city of Yogyakarta. Some consequences of the Merapi jeopardize the whole city, such as the eruption of 2010 when over 400.000 people had to be evacuated. In contrast, other effects of the Merapi have a very localised nature. One of these localised effects is known as a lahar. Lahar is an Indonesian term to describe a flowing mixture of mud and rocks (USGS, 2016), a lahar is like a volcanic mudflow. Lahars typically enter river vallyes and are often difficult to deal with (USGS, 2016; Rachmawati, 2016), one of the river valleys that is often the site of lahars is called the code river. The code river starts at the summit of the Merapi and flows south, through the city centre of Yogyakarta into the Indian Ocean. Therefore, when a lahar happens a small area in Yogyakarta is impacted by the lahar. This area is called the Code River area. The Code River area is heavily populated and also heavily constructed with settlements and other infrastructure, lahars are especially damaging to
infrastructure and settlements (Rachmawati, 2016). Therefore, in some areas in the Code River area construction is prohibited, however despite this policy people still build settlements in these
hazardous places. One of these hazardous places were people have built settlements is known as the Dunerjan district, this area is actually meant as a buffer zone for the river however in practice it completely built up with settlements (Rachmawati, 2016). This largely uncontrolled urbanization and construction of the area is unsustainable and can lead to dangerous environmental situations (Firman, 2014). Approximately around 13.000 people live in risky areas alongside the code river, and the estimated loss can reach up to 52 million us dollars (Rachmawati, 2016). Furthermore, the population of java is still increasing and more people are moving into the city as safe spaces become more rare people tend to settle in more risky places, such as the code river and therefore increasing their exposure to natural hazards (de Loyola Hummell, 2016; Measey, 2010). Most of the residents of the Code River area have lived in the area their entire life, therefore they are connected to the area in many different ways, hence they have no desire or cannot move out of the area (Rachmawati, 2016). Therefore, the residents of the Code River area have to deal with the annual risk of lahars and floods, however not everyone can cope equally with the impact of natural disasters, in this case a lahar or flood (Masozera, 2007). Although the leading discourse in recent history has been that natural disasters do not discriminate, that is that natural disasters hit everybody and everything in its path and therefore does not include or exclude someone on the bias of one’s personal characteristics (Department of sociology, 2004). Some individuals, groups or communities can be more vulnerable to a natural disaster than others (Masozera, 2007). As is well described by the deparment of
sociology in vermont ‘’Poor people around the world suffer the greatest disaster losses and have the most limited access to public and private recovery assets, both in Developing societies as well as wealthy industrialized nations’’. Thus, the actual impact a natural disaster has does not only depend on the nature of the disaster but also on the people who receive it. Therefore, it is necessary to understand this situation from the perspective of the residents who find themselves in this situation, to understand the problem from a micro-level. However, it also important to place and understand this unique situation in a broader context. This broader context will be the environmental justice theory. This theory emerged originally in the United States of America during the 1980’s, the theory is most commonly used to analyze the distribution of environmental burdens and amenities
8 (Schlosberg, 2007). Environmental burdens originally refer to human made environmental problems, such as the existence of a toxic waste site (Holifield, 2001; William, 2014). However, in this thesis, I argue that the annual risk of a natural phenomenon is also an environmental burden. Moreover, because the impact of a lahar or flood is localized that also implies that the burden of a lahar is not distributed equally over the city. Through understanding the views of the people that find
themselves in this unique position and looking at with the environmental justice scope, I hope to understand this problem both at the micro and macro level.
1.2 Societal Relevance
Contemporary society faces a number of challenges that are unique for this time. The political agenda is currently dominated by climate issues. Scientist in the world have finally reached a
consensus that climate change is happening. Climate change has a whole range of effects. Mabey the most profound effect will be the rise and severity in natural disasters (measey, 2010), especially in South East Asia. ‘’People in coastal regions in Asia, particularly those living in cities, could face some of the worst effects of global warming’’ (Robin, 2014). The Rapport by the integrated regional information network states that also Indonesia can expect more and intense natural disasters, such as floods and draughts. (IRIN, 2009). Because the number of natural disaster and the frequency will both increase in the future, one can expect that situation where people settle in hazardous places will become more common in Indonesia. Moreover, besides climate change Indonesia is also experiencing an enormous population growth. In the past 30 years the population of Indonesia has increased by 110 million people, from roughly 150 million people in the 1980’s to approximately 260 million nowadays. This population growth has resulted in a sharp rise in human settlements.
Consequently, the demand for space has also increased, in particular the demand for safe places, places that are free of Environmental and Natural burdens. Safe places to live become increasingly rare and therefore people have to settle increasingly in places that are actually not safe to live, thus increasing their exposure to natural disasters (firman, 2014; de Loyola Hummell, 2016). Though the code river case in Yogyakarta may be unique, with the current and future developments in climate change, population growth and urbanization it is likely that similar situations will become more common throughout Indonesia and the world. That’s why it is crucial to understand the situation in the Code River area. Because the lessons that can be learned from this case can also be used in similar cases elsewhere. I hope that by clarifying and paying attention to the code river situation, that the people will be helped in a better and more adequate way thus increasing their changes on a better future.
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1.2 Scientific Relevance
The environmental justice movement emerged in the United States during the 1980’s. Since then it has predominantly used in the context of hazardous industrial sites, industrial pollution or waste dumping sites, in short for human made environmental problems (William, 2014). A lahar is a natural phenomenon instead, a lahar can be viewed as an external force. Society has no direct influence on lahars, lahars exist outside the structures of society. However, one can argue a lahar becomes a natural disaster because of society. People settle in the impact area of the lahar, and therefore the lahar becomes a disaster. In the face of climate change, global population growth and urbanization, it is likely that situations where people settle in areas that are prone to natural disasters become more common. Natural events can severely impact people’s lives, similar to environmental problems. In thesis, I try to overcome the difference between natural and environmental problems. Overcoming the differences between these concepts will be done by focussing on the impact the event has on people’s lives rather than on the nature of the event itself. I thereby mean to use the environmental justice theory. Several concepts that emerge from this theory will also be used in this research, such as socioeconomic status, vulnerability and distribution of environmental burden and amenities. I regard these concepts as characteristics of the environment and of the people. As I mentioned before this theory is normally used in situations where the event that causes the possible injustice is of a human made origin. But because of society a lahar becomes also a human made problem. Using the environmental justice theory in the context of a natural event will contribute to the overall broadening of the theory. Because it proves that the theory cannot only be used in the context of hazardous industrial sites but also in the context of natural disasters.
1.3 Research goal
This study aims to provide in-depth insight into the situation of the people of the Code River area and how this situation can be reviewed through an environmental justice lens. It is likely that with the current processes in climate change, the growing population in mainly developing countries and the accompanied urbanization that situations like the Code River area in Yogyakarta will become more common throughout the world. Therefore, it is important to create an in-depth understanding both of how the people deal with a situation like that but also how the government governs a situation like the Code River area. Through analyzing these processes new insights can be created, these new insights can contribute to mitigating risks in these hazardous places. Hence the important questions are: Why do the people of the Code River area live there? What makes the residents of the Code River area more or less vulnerable towards natural disasters? Will the exposure towards natural hazards change in the future and why? Will the event of the natural disasters in itself change in the future and why? The main goal of this research will be:
By establishing an in-depth understanding of the characteristics both of the residents and of the environment within the Code River area the goal is to determine if the contemporary situation can be placed within the parameters of an environmental justice theory.
If the situation of the Code River area can be placed within the parameters of the environmental justice theory than it is proven that the Environmental justice theory can also be applied in the context of natural hazards. I will now move on to a brief description of were the research took place, by providing this context I intend to clarify the research goal.
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1.4.1 Yogyakarta geography
This research is conducted in South East Asia in the world’s largest archipelago, with over 17000 islands Indonesia is the world’s number one island nation (measey, 2010). Even though Indonesia consist of over 17000 islands, not all of them are equally significant. The most well-known islands of Indonesia are Bali, Sumatra, Lombok, Kalimantan, Papua New Guinea and Java. The last island Java is the most populous and developed island of Indonesia and is also the island where this research took place. Java consist of three provinces; West-Java, Central-Java, and East-Java (Kloek, 2016). The capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, is also located on Java. Yogyakarta the city where this research is conducted is located in the south of Central Java. During my research, I stayed in the Sleman district, located in the north of Yogyakarta at the foot of the Merapi as is well shown on the picture below.
Figure1 (Vilder, 2017)
In chapter 2 the theoretical background of this study will be discussed. The goal of this chapter is to elaborate more on the important factors. The chapter will start with a detailed explanation of the environmental justice theory and how and why this theory is relevant for this research. Besides the Environmental justice theory, vulnerability will be discussed. Vulnerability is the second main factor in this thesis because vulnerability and environmental justice are in many ways intertwined.
Moreover, vulnerability is also crucial in understanding the position of the residents. To grasp the essence in why the people, live in the Code River area one first needs to know about the vulnerability of the residents. Besides vulnerability and environmental justice, the relevant societal developments will be clarified. Subsequently, the conceptual model and accompanied research questions that come forth out of the theoretical framework will be discussed.
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Chapter 2 Unraveling Environmental Justice
This chapter will cover all the relevant concepts that are used in this research. The chapter will start with a detailed explanation of what environmental justice is and what it means for this research. After explaining what environmental justice is, and what it means for this research I will continue with a description of the force that causes the possible environmental injustice, namely the natural disaster and how this disaster impacts the people of the Code river area. However, because the impact of natural disaster does not only depend on the event itself but also on the people who experience the event, I will continue by explaining what vulnerability is and how it relates to natural disasters and Environmental Justice. I conclude this chapter with addressing several societal
developments that may influence the situation of the Code River area.
2.1 Environmental Justice
Environmental justice originated in the United States of America during the 1980’s (Schlosberg, 2007). The term Environmental justice has mainly two distinct uses: the first use of Environmental justice describes a movement within society that focusses on the just distribution of Environmental amenities and burdens (Schlosberg, 2007. This form of environmental justice can also be viewed as distributive justice, referring to the distribution of environmental quality among different
communities (Holifield, 2001). This distributive perspective of Environmental justice has been the most common throughout environmental justice history. The second and less known use of
Environmental justice refers to the combination of social science literature regarding theories about the environment, justice, environmental laws and their implementations, environmental policy etc. (Miller, 2003). Defining environmental justice is difficult, the discourse about the term environmental justice is heterogeneous, meaning that there exists no universal taxonomy about what the term exactly entails. Rather than one definition of Environmental justice, people and communities in different geographical, historical, political and institutional fields understand and interpret the term differently (Holifield, 2001). Environmental justice often refers to the belief that all citizens,
regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic class, should equally share in the benefits of environmental amenities and the burdens of environmental health Hazards (Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, 2016). The concept of environmental justice was actually a reaction to Environmental racism (mohair, 2009). Environmental racism is described by Robert, D Bullard as: ‘’the intentional or unintentional racial discrimination in the enforcement of environmental rules and regulations, which leads to the singling-out of minority and low-income communities for the siting of noxious facilities’’ Environmental racism is therefore almost the same as environmental justice. Because environmental racism is the disproportionate impacts of environmental hazards on low socioeconomic people and communities, environmental justice is the same as environmental racism but also seeks to redress these inequitable environmental burdens (Bullard, 2000). The justice in environment refers to the equal distribution of environmental burdens and amenities. The
environment in environmental justice is often described as the place where people live, work, pray and play (Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, 2016). The environment can also be described as everything there is (Harvey, 1996). However, I prefer the first definition because it is a little more precise. in my case, the environment is the Code River area, and the cause of the injustice is the risk of lahars and flooding’s that may occur annually during the rainy season.
Environmental justice in an urban scene is mostly used to analyze residential areas that are located in close proximity to polluting industries and waste dumping sites (Holifield, 2001). However, in the case of the Code River area, there is no danger of toxic waste sites or any polluting industries that are
12 situated in the district. In my case, the event that causes the possible injustice is a lahar. A lahar is not a human made environmental problem, nonetheless, it can still be regarded as an environmental hazard. According to Keith Smith, who wrote the book Environmental Hazards: Assessing risk and reducing Disaster. ‘’Environmental hazards are rapid on-set events, from either a natural or a technological origin which directly threaten human life on a community scale through acute physical or chemical trauma. Such events are often associated with economic losses and some damage to ecosystems’’ (Smith, 2013). in the Table below the difference between natural hazards and technological hazards is explained. The two technological hazards with a * are the hazards were Environmental justice is normally focussed on.
Smith argues that environmental hazards and natural or technological disasters are two sides of the same coin, and therefore cannot be viewed separately. Hence a lahar is also an environmental hazard. Because it is a rapid on-set event from a natural origin that threatens the community of the Code River area and can do a great deal of damage to the settlements and infrastructure of that area resulting in an economic loss (Rachmawati, 2016).
The fact that there are many different discourses about environmental justice should not be seen as a barrier to environmental justice research. The multiplicity in Environmental justice presents us with an opportunity to do environmental justice research in new fields (Holifield,2001), such as the Code River area. But despite the heterogeneous discourse of Environmental justice the United states environmental protection agency or EPA has tried to overcome this fragmentation in Environmental justice by establishing a universal definition of the term. The definition of the EPA will form the basis for my understanding of Environmental justice.
’The goal of environmental justice is to ensure that all people, regardless of race national origin or income, are protected from disproportionate impacts of environmental hazards. To be classified as an environmental justice community, residents must be a minority and/or low-income group;
Natural
Hazards:
Examples: Technological:
Hazards
Examples:
Geologic
Earthquakes,
Volcanic
Eruptions,
Landslides
Transport
Accidents
Air accidents,
train crashes,
ship wrecks
Athmospheric Tropical
Cyclones,
Tornedoes
Industrial failures* Explosions
and fires,
release of
toxic or
Redioactive
Materials
Hydrologic
River Floods,
Coastel
floods
Unsafe public
buildings and
facilities
Structural
collapse, fires
Biologic
Epidemic
diseases,
wildfires
Hazardous
Materials *
Storage,
transport,
misuse of
materials
13 excluded from the environmental policy setting and/or decision-making; subject to a
disproportionate impact from one or more environmental hazards; and experience a disparate implementation of environmental regulations, requirements, practices and activities in their communities. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Justice, 2000). If we look at this the description of Environmental justice a number of interesting factors are mentioned. Namely; Environmental hazards, disproportionate impact, low socioeconomic
community and exclusion from the policy/decision-making process. I have already established that Lahars are an environmental hazard that threatens the residents of the Code River area.
Furthermore, due to the nature of a lahar, the impact is constraint to the river itself and to its surroundings, consequently, in the case of a lahar only the areas in Yogyakarta near the river are in danger, therefore the impact of a lahar is disproportionately distributed over the city of Yogyakarta. Now that it is established that the Code River area is the subject to environmental hazards, I can now move on to the second factor that is mentioned in the description of Environmental justice by the EPA, namely the presence of a low socioeconomic community. ‘’One’s socioeconomic position refers to the social and economic factors that influence what positions individuals, groups or communities hold within the structures of society’’ (Galobardes, 2006). In the article ‘’indicators of socioeconomic positions part 1’’ a number of indicators are mentioned, through these indicators one is able to measure socioeconomic status. The indicators that are mentioned in the article are: education, income and housing conditions. These indicators will also be used in this thesis to measure the socioeconomic status of the residents of the Code River area. Finally, the last factor if the residents are included into the policy and decision-making process, intertwines with another factor that is important, namely political vulnerability. I will explain this further in the section about vulnerability.
2.2 Impact of Natural hazards
In recent history, the discourse about natural disasters has always been, that natural disasters are acts of god, and therefore are completely random, in short, they were seen as indiscriminate (department of sociology, 2004). Because natural Disasters or hazards were seen as indiscriminate they were also seen as events that ‘democratized’ the social structures present in society
(department of sociology, 2004). This entails that natural disasters affect each and everybody in its path, thus a natural disaster does not include or exclude somebody on the basis of one’s
socioeconomic status, gender or colour, hence everybody is equal. However, one of the key insights of geographers has been that the impact of natural disasters has much more to do with the
structures of society (William, 2014). Although the event itself may affect everyone equally, the impact of a natural disaster varies across members of society, due to a difference in one’s vulnerability to the impact of a natural disaster (Kriemer, 2001). So a disaster is a product of the event itself as well as the product of the social, political and economic environment (department of sociology, 2004). Furthermore, the impact of a Natural disaster is a combination of both physical impacts as well as psychological impacts, such as emotional stress and traumas or the destruction of a community (Kriemer, 2001). Researchers have found out that the socioeconomic status influences the psychological impact of natural disasters. Social psychological research has shown that people with low socio-economic status suffer greater from a natural disaster in an emotional way. (Department of Sociology, 2004). Consequently, this might affect their development in life. For example, poorer residents reported after a natural disaster that they experience more stress about losing their jobs. (Department of Sociology, 2004). In general, research has shown that
socioeconomic status is of critical importance in one’s capability to deal with the aftermath of a natural disaster in an emotional way (department of sociology, 2004). This means that people of a low socioeconomic status will experience a greater emotional impact from natural disaster. For example; people generally have increased debt burdens after a natural disaster, poor people are often financially devastated after a disaster and this can lead to a higher risk of heart attacks and mental stress. Furthermore, poor communities and people tend to have less access to healthcare
14 systems and other resources, thus increasing the emotional vulnerability even more (department of sociology, 2004). The physiological impact of a natural disaster might be more important in this thesis. Because the psychological impact may cause a long-term effect in somebody’s life, and ultimately limit somebody’s capabilities.
2.3 Vulnerability
Vulnerability regarding natural disasters is the capacity to Anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a natural disaster (Masozera, 2007). Indonesia, among other countries in the Pacific rim, are already more vulnerable to natural disasters, due to a higher concentration of population and infrastructure in disaster prone areas and to a higher frequency of disasters.
(kriemer, 2001). As you can see in the figure below, the figure shows a range of natural disaster and their frequency, in the left diagram a sharp rise in natural hazards is shown and in the Right diagram one sees a huge rise in the number of floods.
Natural disaster impact both developed and developing countries, the impact is often far greater in developing countries. (kriemer, 2001). Developing countries tend to suffer more from the burdens of a natural disaster, because poverty and the impacts of natural disaster strongly correlate.
Consequently, developing countries which tend to have a larger poorer population suffer more from natural disasters (kriemer, 2001). The economic damage that is done by a natural disaster is in most cases is often born by wealthier people, due to fact that they have more expensive possessions. The relative impact is often far greater for low-income groups. Because low-income groups are generally less able to cope with the damage that has been done to their home or their personal space
(Masozera, 2007). For people who can’t bear the costs for repair, reconstruction or relocation it may take years for them to recover from a natural disaster (Masozera, 2007). The impacts of natural disasters are unevenly distributed among nations, regions and communities as a result of different levels of exposure and vulnerability (Masozera, 2007). The general focus of hazard management has always been to invest in natural hazard response, rather than on mitigating pre-existing social
vulnerabilities (Masozera, 2007). Vulnerability to natural hazards is, on the one hand, the change that one is hit by a natural hazard and secondly the ability to cope with the impacts of a natural Disaster. The lack of access to economic (money), or human resources, (being a part of a close community), or knowledge may limit the ability of some socioeconomic groups to respond adequately to a natural
15 disaster (Masozera, 2007). The density of residential constructions effects the potential loss in a positive relation, thus if there is a higher residential density there is a higher potential for economic and social loss (Masozera, 2007). Low-income communities are overall more vulnerable to natural hazards, because these communities often settle in more hazardous places, are less able to cope with the aftermath of a natural disaster due to a lack of recourses, have fewer reserves, and have fewer alternatives to move somewhere else. (Masozera, 2007). Furthermore, a distinction is made between natural vulnerability and human Vulnerability (Alcántara-Ayala, 2002). Natural vulnerability
is influenced by processes in the atmosphere, lithosphere, and the biosphere, however as this study is focused on explaining processes within society, I am interested in Human vulnerability. Human vulnerability has four main factors that it is influenced by. These factors are: social, economic, political and cultural (Alcántara-Ayala, 2002). These factors differ between regions and members of society and therefore vulnerability also differs between members of society and regions. In Aysan (1993) Vulnerability assessment she addresses several forms of human vulnerability:
Although all of these types of vulnerability are important. For this research, I ‘am especially interested in material/economic, social, educational and political vulnerability. Economic vulnerability is important, because as Masozera already pointed out that low-income groups are generally less able to cope with the damage that has been done to their home or their personal space. From the literature, I read, and the pictures I have seen of the Code River area, I assume that it is a poor area within the city of Yogyakarta, hence the importance of economic vulnerability. Besides economic vulnerability, social vulnerability is also interesting. In the article of Dr. Rini Rachmawati, she argues that to reduce risks of lahar flood disaster in the code river settlement can be done by increasing the capacity of communities. Thus, if there is a community with strong social cohesion it can positively influence the ability to cope and deal with a natural disaster. However, measuring social vulnerability is often difficult. Social vulnerabilities are often largely ignored mainly due to the difficulty in quantifying them (Susan L Cutter, 2003). That’s why social vulnerability is in most cases described through several individual characteristics namely; Age, race, health, income, type of dwelling unit and employment (Susan L Cutter, 2003; Department of Sociology, 2004). Social vulnerability can be regarded as both a product of social inequalities and of place inequalities. Place inequalities refer to the characteristics of the community and of the built environment. Examples of
Table 2 Different forms of Vulnerability according to Aysan (1993), The vulnerabilities with an * are addressed in this research
The different forms of Vulnerability
Definitions
Material/economic
vulnerability *
Lack of access to recourses
Social Vulnerability *
The disintegration of social patterns
Ecological Vulnerability
Degradation of the environment and
inability to protect it
Organizational vulnerability
Lack of strong national and local
institutional structures
Educational Vulnerability *
Lack of access to information and
knowledge
Political Vulnerability *
Limited access to political power and
representation
Attitudinal Vulnerability & motivational
Vulnerability
Lack of public awareness
Cultural Vulnerability
Certain beliefs and customs
16 factors that contribute to place inequalities are level of urbanization, growth rates, and economic vitality.
‘’There is a general consensus within the social science community about some of the major factors that influence social vulnerability. These include: lack of access to resources (including information, knowledge, and technology); limited access to political power and representation; social capital, including social networks and connections; beliefs and customs; building stock and age; frail and physically limited individuals; and type and density of infrastructure and lifelines (Cutter, 2001a; Tierney, Lindell, and Perry, 2001; Putnam, 2000; Blaikie et al., 1994)’’
Political vulnerability refers to access a person, group or community has, to political power and representation. Political vulnerability is essential in viewing this problem from an environmental justice perspective. Because one of the main approaches of Environmental justice is to include low socioeconomic people, groups, and communities into the policy and decision-making process (EPA, 2016). However, if the communities in the Code River area are politically vulnerable that also implies that they have little representation in regional politics thus are most likely also not to be included in the decision-making process.
2.3.1 Climate change
Climate change is a global problem, where the people of the Code River area have little influence on. However, these global problems can have very localized effects. The technical part of climate change shall not be addressed in this thesis, only certain effects of climate change are important for the Code River area. Especially the profound effect climate change has on natural disasters. Indonesia has already been identified as one of the most vulnerable nations in the face of climate change (Measey, 2010). Nowadays Indonesia is experiencing the first effects of climate change with additional droughts, heatwaves, floods and a change in the weather as well (measey, 2010). From origin, Indonesia has always known two seasons, the rainy season and the dry season. However, due to the effects of climate change, the weather has become unpredictable. During my time in
Indonesia, I noticed this as well, in my last weeks in Indonesia the dry season had officially already started, however it was raining almost on a daily basis. Also, when I was in Yogyakarta I asked Agus, who was a taxi driver now but he used to work on the Ambassade in Singapore and therefore spoke decent English. Told me that due to the effects of climate change, especially on the island of Java, that there was no clear boundary between the rain and the dry season anymore. The dry season is longer now, as a result, the rain season is shorter but the rain intensity has increased by 2 to 3 percent (Measey, 2010). Due to the increased rain intensity, the number of floods has risen in recent years. Also, because lahars are triggered by long and intense rainfall, one can assume that the risk of lahars is also increased by the changing weather pattern. Therefore, in the future, the code river will likely become an even more risky place to live. What’s more, according to Measey (2010) ‘’ the greatest impact of climate change will be experienced by the poorest people in the country, especially those who live in areas vulnerable to flooding, landslides and drought’’ (page 11). As the code river, already is known as a place that is more exposed to flooding, this area will become even more vulnerable.
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2.3.2 Urbanization
Indonesia is undergoing a transformation from originally a rural economy to an urban economy. Consequently, Indonesia’s cities are growing at an enormous rate, even faster than in other Asian countries (Worldbank, 2016). By the year 2025, it is expected that approximately 68 percent of Indonesia’s population will live in cities. Besides Urbanization Indonesia is also experiencing a tremendous population growth. In the past 50 years, the population of Indonesia has almost tripled, from roughly 90 million people in 1960 to 250 million in 2013 (the worldbank, 2017). All these new people have to live somewhere, and they mostly end up in the cities. Moreover, the distribution of Indonesia´s urban population is distributed unevenly among the nation. Approximately 68 percent of Indonesia’s urban population is located on Java (Firman, 2010). And this was in 2010, now seven years later is it likely that java has an even greater urban population. This issue is further
problematized due to the fact that the development on Java is largely uncontrolled, which could potentially result in environmental ramifications (Firman, 2010). Cities like Yogyakarta are becoming increasingly populated (Kloek, 2016). Consequently, cities all over Java are becoming more
concentrated both with people and with construction, resulting in a higher exposure and vulnerability to natural disasters (Kriemer, 2001; Donner, 2011; de Loyola Hummell, 2016).
The growth of cities and human settlements in areas that are disaster prone, the location of industry and infrastructure in vulnerable locations, […], have contributed to an increase in losses’’ (Kriemer, 2001, page 401).
Construction is increasingly being built in hazardous places, this problem even occurs in developed countries where constructions tend to be better controlled. In the UK for example, homes and businesses are continuously being built on flood plains despite the increased risks (Harvey, 2016). If homes are already built in hazardous places in the developed world, one can imagine that in developing countries where construction is much less monitored by the government that this problem is even worse.
Climate change, Urbanization, and population growth are all equally important concepts for this study. Because they influence the risk that is already present in the Code River area. With the current trends in climate change, urbanization and population growth one expect that the risks will increase for the Code River area. Due to the effects of climate change, natural disasters will occur more frequently and those disasters will likely be more severe as well, combine these developments with a higher exposure to natural disasters and we can assume that the risk for the residents of the Code River area will increase in the future.
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2.4 Research questions
In the theoretical chapter, all the important concepts for this study have extensively been discussed. This information will serve as the theoretical backbone and scope for this research. From the existing literature about environmental justice a number of other concepts have come to light that are therefore important for this research. First of all, the nature of the event that causes the possible environmental justice or injustice had to be discussed. Because in this research the Environmental justice theory is used to analyse a situation where the event that causes the possible injustice or justice is of a different origin, namely a natural one instead of human made one. The most important concept that was already grounded in the environmental justice theory is vulnerability, as I have already explained vulnerability and environmental justice cannot be viewed separately. Because vulnerability is therefore important in this study, other concepts that influence vulnerability or are influenced by vulnerability have also been included in this research. These other concepts are; climate change, urbanization and population growth. These concepts exist outside the people of the Code River area; however, the people are influenced by these concepts, that’s why I regard these concepts as societal developments. By applying this scope on the code river situation new in-depth insight will be created.
Main questions: How can the current situation present in the Code River area be seen within the parameters of the Environmental justice theory?
- In order to answer the main question, four sub questions are formed. Each of these sub questions has provided a piece of information, all the pieces combined forms the answer on the main question. However, as these sub question are from the previous research proposal, not all of the questions are equally important. I will clarify this in the brief description of every sub question.
2.4.1 Sub-questions
Why are the residents of the Code River area living in the area?
- Why the people live in the Code River area is a simple and straightforward question. But despite the simplicity of the question, this might be the most important sub question in this research. Because it provides key insights in the economic vulnerability of the people living in the Code River area, explains why the residents of the Code River area have little mobility and also gave insights in how the residents perceive and deal with the risks of their environment Therefore, in chapter four and five this question is discussed extensively.
In what ways are the residents of the river more or less vulnerable to natural disasters?
- The impact the lahars has does not only depend on the event itself, but also on the people who experience the event (Masozera, 2007). Vulnerability explains why people are better or less able to cope with natural disasters, the impact the lahar has largely depends on the vulnerability of the residents of the Code River area. Vulnerability addresses several key concepts that are also important in the Environmental justice theory. Vulnerability reviews the political power a community has, the socioeconomic position of the Code River area residents and the level of education. These key insights that are created by addressing the vulnerability of the Code River area are important in understanding the situation within the parameters of the environmental justice theory.
19 How will the chance of lahars change in the foreseeable future and why?
- This sub question has been less important than I expected. As I explain in the methodology chapter, I am not interested in the technological site of the lahar. I am interested in the impact the lahar has on the everyday of people’s lives. This question focusses more on how the lahar itself will change in the future and why. As I am especially interested in the
perspective of the residence, how the lahar influences the code river, in short, the social side, how and why the lahar itself changes is less important. The only important aspect of this question is climate change, climate change might affect the lahars and can lead to an increase in the number of lahars. Therefore, the already present risk of the Code River area may increase in the future.
How will the impact of lahars change in the future and why?
- This last sub question is important in addressing the societal developments that
contemporary Indonesia faces. This question has lead me to insights in how climate change, urbanization and population growth influences the exposure and vulnerability towards natural disasters.
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2.5 Conceptual model
The conceptual model, displayed below, represent the different connections the variables have that were already grounded in the theoretical framework. The conceptual model consists of the key concepts used in this research. As this is a qualitative study the conceptual model is still fairly
abstract, therefore some new connections may be discovered in the empirical data. Certain relations that are presented here are partly based on my understanding of the environmental justice theory and the relevant variables that came forth out of this theory. However, if these relations also exist in the real world can only be tested through the empirical data, but that will be discussed in the empirical chapter of this research.
To understand the contemporary situation that is present in the code river within the ideas of the environmental justice theory, a clear image about the people who live there and about the
environment is necessary. This clear image of the environment of the Code River area and the people who live in this area will result in an overall view of the characteristics of the people and the built environment. These characteristics consist of people’s education, employment, income, housing condition and involvement in the policy making. All these factors combined enables me to create a clear understanding of people’s socioeconomic status and of people’s vulnerability towards the natural disaster, in this case towards the lahar. How people deal with the impact of natural disasters depends on one’s vulnerability to that disaster, hence the importance of establishing a general view of the vulnerability. Furthermore, vulnerability towards natural disasters does not only depend on the people themselves but is also influenced by forces that the people of the Code River area have no direct influence on. These forces are called societal developments. These societal developments are as follows: Urbanization, Climate change, and Population growth. These factors have been included in the conceptual model because they influence the exposure and vulnerability towards natural disasters, as is already explained in the theoretical framework chapter.
Societal developments
Climate
change
Urbanization Population growthVulnerability
Impact natural
disasters
Environmental
Justice
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3.0 Chapter three
3.1 Methodology
The goal of this study is to establish an in-depth understanding of the characteristics both of the residents and of the environment within the Code River area the goal is to determine if the contemporary situation can be placed within the parameters of the environmental justice theory. The methodology explained in this chapter acts as a guideline to reach my research goal. The information used in this chapter is mainly based on the course qualitative methods.
The first decision any researcher has to make is to conduct either a qualitative or quantitative study. A quantitative study can be regarded as a research of numbers, a statistical research. Gathering Data in quantitative research is mostly done by doing a survey, a good way to get large amounts of data in a relatively fast way. However, this research is not interested in numbers. As is mentioned in the goal this research tries to reach an in depth understanding of a contemporary situation. Therefore, this thesis is a qualitative research. Within the qualitative research approach, there are many data gathering techniques. I am not going to address each of these techniques. Because I am interested in a contemporary situation and I want to establish an in depth understanding, only one methodology would suffice. This methodology is called a case study. This type of research ‘involves the study of a case within a real-life, contemporary context or setting’ (Yin in Creswell, 2013, p. 97). In other words, a case study is predominantly used to analyze social situations in their natural environment (Vennix, 2012). This approach suits my research goal well. However, there are many different forms of a case study it all depends on the type of case the researcher selects. The researcher can choose to do an intrinsic, typical, extreme/deviant, critical or maximum/minimum variation case (Yin, 2003). The nature of the case decides which one of these would be the most suited. Some of these types of case studies are not an option because of the circumstances of the research. Because there is only one month to do the whole research, there simply is not adequate time to conduct a maximum or
minimum variation case study. Due to the fact that you need to study at least two cases, I haven’t got enough time and recourses to do this. That’s why for the case of the code river, an extreme or deviant case is the best option. An extreme or deviant case is used to learn from abnormal situations. The Code River area is the site of a unique situation because on the one hand there is a possibility of lahars and on the other hand the extraordinary people that live there. The goal of this research is not to provide a clear answer on how to solve the problem in the Code River area. Instead of solving it the goal is to understand and learn from the contemporary situation in the Code River area and placing this situation in the Environmental justice framework. therefore, an extreme or deviant case is the best choice. Besides the type of case study, there is another option that depends on the units of analysis in this case. When a researcher has chosen to conduct a case study, he or she should then decide to conduct an embedded/single/multiple case study. Single and multiple refer to the number of cases a researcher investigates, because of a lack of time and recourses this is a single case design. However, through increasing the number of analysis within my case the overall case study becomes a lot stronger, this is known as an embedded case study. An embedded case study has a positive influence on the internal validity of this research (Yin, 2003). Thus, instead of interviewing residents in one village of the Code River area, interviews will be done in three villages. Which villages these are is clarified in the empirical part of this thesis. Choosing a single case design over a multiple case design has also drawbacks, mainly regarding generalization. Generalization to a broader theory is more difficult if only one case is investigated. Therefore, through focusing on the characteristics of the people and of the environment, instead of the people and the environment in itself,
22 cases, this method is also known as Analytical generalization (Boezeman, 2017). Thus, by
approaching the problem this way, this research can be generalized to a broader theory.
3.2 Research strategy
This research focusses on establishing an in depth understanding of the unique situation that is present in the Code River area. This unique situation is formed through a combination of two core things. The first core theme in this study is the natural event, the lahar, that has a strongly localized effect in Yogyakarta. The fact that the natural event is a lahar is not the important part, explaining what a lahar exactly entails is not a point of study in this research, this is rather a study object for natural scientist. In this study, I am interested in the effects a lahar has on the human environment and also the localized nature of a lahar. That brings me to the second core point of this study, namely the characteristics of the people that are affected by the lahar. I am not interested in the physical human beings that live there. I am interested in the education of the people, if they are wealthy or not, if they live there by choice, how they perceive the risks of a natural event and how they deal with such a situation in short what defines these people, what makes them unique? The point is that one should regard these characteristics independently of the people that have these characteristics. Through focussing on the effects that the natural event has, people’s characteristics and on the experience, they have towards the natural event I establish an in depth understanding of processes that are important in this situation and that these processes can be seen as something separate from the physical geographical location and from the actual human beings that experience this.
‘’Thus, one is interested not in vulnerable groups per se, but in the conditions, that bring about their vulnerability to disasters and their capacity to recover’’ (Aysan, 1993).
It is essential to look at this way because through this approach this research can be generalized to a broader phenomenon, and therefore will increase the external validity of this research.
The best way to obtain data to answer these questions will be through interviews with residents of villages in the Code River area. that find themselves in this situation and by doing observations. The code river consists of many different villages with different people living in those villages. Hence, the objective is to interview residents of at least three different villages. Perspective on the problem among different villages might differ and therefore it is better to interview people in different villages within the Code River area. By interviewing residents in different villages, a broader perspective of the situations is established. But besides the residents, it is also interesting to understand the perspective of outsiders, people who are familiar with the problem but not actually live in the Code River area. Through interviewing residents in different geographical locations and interviewing outsiders on the matter, a more holistic image of the situation is formed. Furthermore, getting many different perspectives of the situations will also result in an understanding of the problem that is closer to reality. Because reality is represented better this way, the interval validity of this thesis will be improved.
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3.3 Research Material
There are several ways to gather data when doing a case study. In many cases studies, alternate sources of data are used, this method is called the triangulation method. By applying the
triangulation method, thus using multiple sources of information, the overall case becomes stronger and more valid (Boezeman, 2017). The different methods that are used for this research are as follows: literature, interviews, observations and audio-visual material. I will now address each of these methods briefly.
3.3.1 Literature
Literature forms the backbone of this thesis. Existing literature of Environmental justice,
Vulnerability, Natural hazards, Climate change, and urbanization are read and analyzed. Through gathering literature and scanning it for important information, certain relations between concepts have been discovered and made. Reading the existing literature has also enabled me to establish a well and broad understanding of the concepts that are addressed in this research. Furthermore, information from the existing literature supports my claims in the empirical part and will make the overall chapter stronger. However, all through literature on the concepts above is abundant,
literature about the Code River area is extremely scarce. Besides that, the literature that exists about the Code River area is mostly written in the Indonesian language. Which is understandable as it is a local problem that doesn’t receive much attention from the global. That’s why English literature about the Code River area, apart from the article Rini Rachmawati wrote, is almost non-existent. Because English literature about the Code River area is difficult to find, interviews are the basis for my understanding of the Code River area and also the basis for the empirical part, chapter 5 and 6, of this thesis.
3.3.2 Interviews
A distinction is made in the interviews with the residents of the Code River area and with outsiders. Furthermore, because this research and the research of R. Lammes and R. de Louw share the same research area and have overlapping interests, we decided to conduct our interviews together. We made one interview guide that is divided into sections, each section includes questions that represent each of our research topics. The interviews with the residents have been carried out at three different sites, all within the borders of the Code River area. One of the sites is the Danurejan district. My supervisor, Doctor Rini Rachmawati, conducted a research previous to our research about the need for spatial planning in the Code River area. Because the article she wrote has been a huge inspiration for this thesis, we decided to include the Danurejan district in our research also. In the Danurejan district, we visited a kampung, a kampung is like a village or neighbourhood. Besides the kampung in the Danurejan district, we visited two other kampungs in two different districts because People’s perspective on the problem might differ between different kampungs and districts. Asking the same questions to respondents of different kampungs within the Code River area has led to different perspectives on the problem and a more holistic understanding of the situation that is also closer to reality. During the interviews in the Code River area, we were accompanied by two students from the Gadjah Mada University, namely Ratih Paniti and Faricha Kurniadhini. They did the actual interviews for us because the respondents spoke barely or no English. After the interviews, we discussed and reflected upon the interview and made notes about the key findings.
Besides interviews with the varies residents of the Code River area, we interviewed outsiders as well. These outsiders are the supervisors me, Roelof Lammes and Ruud de Louw got appointed. Because of rules and regulations, it was not possible for us to interview government officials. Therefore, we decided to interview our supervisors, also because they were already cooperating in our research. Our supervisors are all experts either in spatial planning, urban planning or geography, they,
24 therefore, had the know-how to provide us with a specialized view on each of the topics. But in order to interview the supervisors we had to make another interview guide. Because the interview guide we had made is focussed on the residents of the Code River area. The general level of education is low in the Code River area, we made, therefore, questions that were understandable for the people of the Code River area. These same questions couldn’t be asked to our supervisors. We also wanted to ask the experts different questions than we asked the respondents. Therefore, we made a second interview guide for the experts, both interview guides are in chapter 7: appendix.
3.3.3 Observations
Interviews are important in understanding the contemporary situation of the Code River area, but interviews are not the only way to understand the situation. Besides the interviews, observations in the Code River area have been carried out as well. The observations have mostly been done after and during our interviews at the different sites, we planned one day for each site thus we had plenty of time to observe the area after and during the interviews. During the observations, I was focussed on a number of things, for example, how close the construction is to the river, if the area is densely constructed, how the kampungs are protected from the river. Moreover, through observing and interviewing the residents I placed myself as a researcher at the center of the actual research. That has been an enormous help to create a feeling of the area and the varies communities that exist in the Code River area. Finally, audio-visual material, if any, can also be a good source for alternative interviews and data. However, till this point, I have only managed to find videos of the lahars. Lahars are natural phenomena that are foreign to me, therefore videos of lahars have helped me generate an image of what a lahar is and what it can cause. But besides that audio-visual material is not a really important source used in this research.
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3.3.4 List of Respondents
The following table is a list of all the respondents that have been interviewed. The first six
respondents live in the Code River area, the 7th respondent doesn’t live in the Code River area but is a relative of someone who does and the last three respondents are the supervisors.
Tabel 2 List of Respondents (De Louw, 2017)
