20 September 2006

Kelud Volcano


I realise it’s been a while since we’ve put anything on the Blog so I’ll fill you in a bit first before getting on to more recent happenings…. In July I went to Indonesia for work. It was just a short mission aimed at launching a study on volcanic hazards and risk perception.

I was there for about 10 days during which we travelled out to Kelud volcano, located about 5-6 hours drive from Yogyakarta (Java). We met with our Indonesian partners from the University of Indonesia, as well as the Belgian volcanologists who were busy setting up the monitoring equipment which will hopefully provide much-needed data on the volcano’s activity over the next three years. Our role in the project will be to conduct a series of focus groups and interviews to examine community risk perceptions and attitudes to the volcano which will inform local disaster preparation and the development of warning messages.

When I was there, Yogyakarta, which is normally quite a bustling city, was still trying to recover from the earthquake and was emptier than what I remembered of it from my trip there in 2004. Merapi had already erupted once and people in the region were still wary that it might go again. It seems to be one thing after another. Whilst we were in Yogya, the coastline was hit by another tsunami…. It was surreal being there only months after the devastating earthquake and then to know that yet another disaster had hit so close by…. It was very sad…

On a more positive note I managed to catch up with Navita (for those of you who don’t know her – she’s a friend of mine I met whilst doing my masters in Sweden). We both ended up at CRED for our internships as well. It was great seeing her again and hearing about her work with JRS. I was lucky to catch her as she was just leaving Yogya for Aceh; it was just a shame it was so short….

1 Comments:

At 12 June, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, Lian!
I just noticed that you put stories about trip to Indonesia in your blog. How are you now? I also have blog now. You can check my updates here : http://arumanis.multiply.com/ Although it's mostly in bahasa indonesia, but i promise to write more in english!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home