SERUT VILLAGE
INTRODUCTION
On the 6th December 2014, a group of 10 Curtin University students travelled to Yogyakarta, Indonesia to partake in a week’s worth of disaster planning and management activities. We were divided into 3 groups, each given a different case study, and provided with a hypothetical situation in which a disaster ensued. The following is the plan created by the Serut village team to try and return their case study village to normality following the occurrence of that disaster. In developing the plan it was important that we try to develop an ability to assess the practicality and implementability of the plans created, and an understanding of the roles that various local and international stakeholders have. The plan was created with the assistance of students from the University of Gadjah Mala (UGM), who’s knowledge of the local area and resources was a massive support. The University has had previous involvement in disaster recovery following major earthquakes and the wealth of knowledge they have obtained from these experiences was a valuable resource.
THE TEAM
TIARLA FINIS
The discipline of geography covers many factors of post-disaster management. Not only does geography allow us to gain an understanding of what happened during the natural disaster, in terms of both cause and effect, but it also allows us to understand the consequences of the disaster and the effects it has on peoples livelihoods. Geography as a disciplines explores social, economic, political, human and physical factors, and all of these factors intertwine to provide a basis of understanding. Geography not only explores the physical environment, but also the human, encompassing aspects of migration, reasons for leaving home, social security and health, all of which were relevant in the Serut Village case study. Geography is inter-disciplinary, it is easily transferred and able to be combined with other disciplines, and due to this geography proved to be significant in understanding and resolving the earthquake plan.
NATHAN MAAS
The discipline of planning is a critical element to any post-disaster recovery management; in the way it deals with people and their relationship to their built environment. Planning looks into many aspects including social, environmental and economic qualities – good planning respects cultural heritage, promotes sustainable practice and builds on the relationship between people and their surroundings. Planning proves to be a vital component for the recovery mission of Dewa-Serut as it looks to help shape the outlook for the village. The team (Tiara, Josh and myself) aim to tie in existing cultural foundations, international economic and environmental knowledge and industry best practise to help form an acceptable post-disaster recovery plan to help the village grow, diversify, continue sustainable practise and build on existing social capital. Planning plays an important role in this plan.
JOSH MEWBURN
The construction management course provides us with a base knowledge and understanding of how things are put together. This includes everything from scheduling to budgeting and the building techniques required. My descipline was able to provide sound advice as to whether things was acheivable or not, as well as providing some reasoning to how they should be undertaken to be acheived. Throught the field trip Tiarla, Nathan and I strived to come up with a plan that would actually be feasable in the event of an earthquake. We aimed to have as much community involvement as was possible and include all the major stakeholders in the process of rebuilding the community.
SITUATION
The fictional earthquake occurs on the 12th of June 2015, the event is 7.4 on the Richter scale and causes immense devastation and loss to the Yogyakarta region, it proves to present many challenges. Prior knowledge and academic research taught us that the area we are working on is prone to such events. Such an event occurred in 2006, which resulted in 5,700 fatalities and resulted in the loss of 300,000 buildings with a $US3.1 billion economic loss (Kusumasari, 2012). The economy took a dive with a 23% decline, major losses to the housing, energy and transport sectors also occurred. We assumed a similar scenario. Literature also informed us of the strong social capital of these villages known as gotong royong, which is cooperation within and between social networks (Kusumasari 2012, 361). The people of Indonesia, especially evident in our village form strong social capital, which is critical to consider if any of our plans will be successful.
A month has passed since the occurrence of the devastating Yogyakarta earthquake, which shattered the homes and lives of hundreds of thousands people within the area of Indonesia. The earthquake occurred due to the Indo- Australian tectonic plate subducting underneath the Eurasian plate. Convergent plate boundaries occur when two tectonic plates move towards each other, resulting in either both plates being pushed upwards or, as in the case of this earthquake, the oceanic plate subducts beneath the continental plate. Convergent plate boundaries are known to cause the most damage extensive earthquakes. However, studies into this disaster show that this particular earthquake was not only caused by tectonic plate movements. The movement of the tectonic plates triggered the Opak Fault Line on the island of Java which increased the intensity of this 7.4 magnitude earthquake. In particular, the area of Serut Village, or Desa Serut as it is known to local Indonesians, saw that less than 20% of all buildings remained standing, and of this percentage, all had to be rebuilt, due to severe structural damage. The death total is still unconfirmed due to lack of records kept. Serut Village is located south of the Special Region of Yogyakarta, approximately 50 kilometers from the ocean and 35 kilometers from the closest volcano, Mt. Merapi. “We feel very safe here because we are so far from other possible natural disasters” says Pak Toba, the local village leader. The land in this area is predominantly used for farming purposes, including the farming of soy, corn, rice, bananas and casapha. The village relies on using wells for their water source, however there are rivers and streams located nearby. Earthquakes appear to be the biggest and one of the only threats to Serut Village when exploring the physical geography of the area, and to the people of the village, that is reason enough for them to continue living there and not relocate in the event of another disaster.
VISION
"BECOMING THE REGION'S BLUEPRINT FOR A SELF-RESILIANT SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY"
LIVELIHOODS STUDY
The definition of livelihood is ‘a means of securing the necessities of life’ (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2014) and is comprised of social, economic, human, environmental and physical factors. Therefore a livelihood study is assessing the strength of these factors within a community and understanding which need improvement in order to maintain the required balance. When assessing Serut Village, we found that in terms of social factors, they had excellent community cohesion. This was shown through relying on each other and working together, having activity groups set up such as Women’s Group, and having a leader to guide the community. In terms of economic factors, while they have a few options for employment, such as farming and handicrafts, these are the main two and if anything were to happen where these occupations could no longer be carried out, there is not a diverse range of other employment options within the community. When exploring the human factors, Serut Village had placed much thought into education facilities. These included library facilities, early childhood centers, a primary school, a religious school for children and lessons in coconut planting.
An area that the community could improve in however, would be to introduce additional training including medical and building of structures in order to be self-sustainable. Their main factor for environment is their farming. They make their own compost, showing signs of reusing materials, they have communal cattle farms, replant much of the vegetation and show a deep ecology meaning they put the environment first. In terms of the physical infrastructure, they are now beginning to make all of their buildings earthquake proof, and provide infrastructure for a number of services including schools, a mosque, library and roads. The community could improve the physical aspect of livelihoods by providing a communal space, as there is currently no one place that everyone can come together. I believe that Serut Village is highly commendable in terms of community togetherness and their respect for the environment, and if they make the improvements discussed, they will become the blueprint for a self-sustainable village.
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Desa-Serut Village
Located south of Central Yogyakarta, Desa-Serut is home to 1460 people. The semi-rural villages economy revolves around farming and home industry. The people practise sustainable farming and living and hold a deep ecology with the land.
Disaster Relief
After the event, immediate disaster relief is offered by the Army, Government, and Non-Government-Organisations (NGO’s). This is in the form of aid drops, medical relief, search and rescue and organisation.
(Short Term) Temporary Crops
In the short term food supplies is scarce, so temporary re-planting starts in the footprint of pre-existing houses. This starts a sense of normality in the village as villagers way of lives start to return to normal.
(Long Term) Land Use Plan
The long-term land use plan follows the shape and form of the existing village; this is to respect the community’s wishes of keeping the footprint of the village the same and families remaining in their same lot. However we look at land use more efficiently and productively and offer two solutions; an integrated farming solution and vertical strawberry farming.
(Long Term) Vertical Strawberry Farm
Our exciting vertical strawberry plan offers the village a new unique and sustainable, economic and food source. The creatively designed vertical strawberry farm offers diversification of employment and a new tourism base.
Earthquake event
The anticipated event occurs on 12 June 2015, 7.4 on the Richter scale the event causing serious damage and loss of life to the region including Desa-Serut.
(Short Term) Temporary Shelter and re-building efforts
In the short term temporary housing in the village starts to emerge in the footprint of existing homes, re-building of other facilities and infrastructure such as telecommunications and energy also begin.
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Medium Term Activities
Heading into the medium term social order has returned. Permanent housing starts construction, land use planning starts to take shape and the sense of normality has returned.
(Long Term) Integrated Farming Solution Concept
The integrated farming solution is a concept plan on how farming can be achieved in a more efficient matter. The concept blends old and new farming with new community space and our vertical strawberry farm. The plan is sustainable, self-resilient and offers employment diversification.
BEGINNINGS OF RECOVERY
Recent planning perspectives on earthquakes indicate the importance of community participation and involvement in planning (Izadkhah 2010). Community Based Disaster Management (CBDM) is important in a natural disaster situation. Izadkhah argues that “the local population has the relative knowledge of their vulnerabilities and capacities and know the traditional coping mechanisms suited for their own environment … they respond first and quickly at times of crisis” (Izadkhah 2010, 345). Community resilience is important in this time as “the goals of community resilience are broad to meet various community needs. Goals may be problem solving, interagency relationships, resource acquisition, policy development and implementation, and communication” (Wyche et al. 2011, 18). Our plans consider all social, cultural and heritage aspects and the wishes of the community – as such we broke our plan into three stages – short term, medium term and long term.
Following last month’s fatal earthquake, Serut Village has been overwhelmed with the amount of aid and donations they are receiving to help rebuild their village and lives. Donations came flooding into the village from a large number of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s), individuals and the national Army. The initial food supplies for the village were provided by the World Food Program (WFP), which helped the community survive the first two weeks of the clean-up process. The Red Cross played a large role in contributing to the village, providing them with tents and tarpaulins per family, 25, 000 liters of bottled water for the village locals and helpers, 10, 000 blankets for the wider Yogyakarta community. The Red Cross also supplied hygiene kits to help not only those injured in the earthquake, but with equipment to ensure health is maintained if a disease outbreak were to occur. Thankfully due to the location of the water sources away from sewerage in Serut Village, this incident did not occur. Within the first two weeks of the initial earthquake, Oxfam moved swiftly, installing a large water tank in the village, ensuring that there is always a future water source.
Last Tuesday, two representatives from UNICEF brought learning materials to Yogyakarta for up to 100, 000 students. Pak Toba says there are currently enough learning materials from UNICEF in Serut Village for 500 students. Within the coming days, Serut is expecting to receive a donation of crop seedlings from the national Army, allowing them to re-establish their farming practices. Getting these donations to Serut Village was no easy task. Due to the state of the roads, all donations had to be transferred from truck to motorbike, and locals rode with the supplies, with exception to the water tank which had to arrive via helicopter.
A REBUILT VILLAGE STARTS TO EMERGE
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It is anticipated social order has returned and the villagers start to look at returning to normal life. Damaged was estimated to 80% of homes and therefore significant rebuilding efforts is needed. Before permanent-housing structures can emerge temporary houses must be constructed. The intention is to follow an existing and proven practice of rebuilding on existing lots. The process starts by constructing temporary tents on parts of the land unoccupied by housing, then as time passes by recycling parts of the pre-existing house to form a more secure temporary structure. Before permanent houses can be rebuilt (a process anticipated to take around a year on a house by house basis) temporary crops will be planted on the footprint of the pre-existing house. This will reduce demand for emergency food supplies and further allow a sense of belonging to occur again as a sense of normality returns. This is very important to combat the sense of solastalgia. Solastalgia is defined as the pain or sadness caused by the loss or lack of solace and sense of isolation due to the present state of one’s home and territory. Those who experience solastalgia can experience general distress, which can escalate to serious health problems, such as depression and suicide (Speldewinde et al. 2009, 881).
The process of housing reconstruction, replanting food stock and most importantly respecting the wishes of the community to remain on their existing lot will help reduce the effects of solastalgia and as such form a major part of our plan. It is important to recognise the cultural heritage of the village and people and after consultation with the community we propose the top 10% of wealthiest families construct their house of a traditional Joglo design, while the remaining housing stock be a more economically viable approach. Land use planning at this stage is minimal, but through community research it is evident that villagers wish to remain on their current lots, further the community do not wish to expand their urban footprint as this will take up valuable farming land. This presents the team with a major challenge, how do we respect the wishes of the community in terms of land use and design while diversifying employment sources, expanding economic opportunities, and creating new community space? The answer lies in efficient land use planning and this forms our long-term vision.
Vertical Expansion.
One of the things that we strived to do whilst developing the recovery plan for Desa Serut was to maintain an awareness of what the community wanted. To do this we established frequent community involvement meetings where we were able to gain an understanding of what the rebuilt village should contain/how it should be established. One thing we learnt through the use of these community involvement meetings was a desire to not take up additional farming land as the community population grows. Pak Toba suggested that the village would like to be able to build multi story dwellings so that families could remain together and not impact the amount of farming land that they already have. This seems a sensible idea given farming largely drives their economy and livelihood.
In terms of making this “wish” a reality we see it as being very achievable. Whilst building multi-story may not happen immediately, we are in a good position to over engineer homes as a future provision so they can build a second story when required. We foresee that the additional re-enforcement and sub-structure changes should not raise costs a huge amount. Whilst inspecting what is left of buildings and investigating how they have rebuilt previously, it appears that the communities structures already contain more reinforcement than is necessary and small adjustments to how they build would make this idea a reality. This aspiration would need input from engineers and further planning to enable but with the involvement of UGM it could most definitely come to fruition.
Whilst there are methods out there to “earthquake proof” homes, the cost to do this is well beyond what this community could hope to achieve. Even with government grants and donations we believe that the money would be best placed elsewhere to ensure quick re-establishment of the community shelter and economy. It is important to remember that the earthquake we are speculating may happen is a once in 100-year event. The area of Yogyakarta is often hit by smaller earthquakes that do not extensively damage the structural elements of homes as they are currently designed.
Legacy Building.
Legacy building is another initiative that we have taken away from the community involvement meetings. What the buildings future use will be is its legacy, and if planned for properly a building can be easily transitioned from one use to another when required. We have planed to priority build multiple larger buildings to act as first aid centres/shelter in the short term, with the vision in mind to turn them into schools and town halls in the future. This gives the community a safe space to reside in whilst their homes are being rebuilt and will provide a great space to learn in in future years.
LOOKING LONG TERM
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The long-term vision is the ultimate goal of our plans, the vision aims to create a self-sustainable and resilient community with strong cultural heritage and sensitive environmental design while supporting the community economically. The vision includes the ultimate land use plan, the spatial elements, the relationship between the land and people and ultimately how the community will sustain their way of life. As mentioned the plan must respect the wishes of the community in the way that the footprint of the village must not change, therefore we do not propose to change the spatial footprint of the village, as evident in the land use map LEFT the village form remains the same. However our plans rather build on the existing land use with more sustainable and efficient building and farming techniques and uses. We call this our integrated farming solution and a concept map is shown RIGHT.
This is our exciting and efficient plan for a re-imagined and unique farming concept. Integrated, sustainable, self sufficient – it blends community open space, current and new farming practise to form an economic, environmental and social hub. It contains several land uses to form a centre for the community, it is smart, usable and resilient to outside shock. In the centre we position the communal hub as the heart of the concept. The construction of a traditional Pendopo allows space for several functions such as gatherings, reflection, and tourism activities. It respects the cultural heritage while landscaped surrounds blend to form an inviting space. Surrounding the centre are several type of farms, Including traditional faming uses such as a paddy field, barn and cattle but also some new concepts. The cattle farm doubles as a biogas facility, which collects the methane for gas use. It is a sustainable and achievable project and builds on the principle of no waste, re-use and self-resilience. We have a hybrid fish and chicken system which is a new concept being used in Indonesia. Waste from the chickens feed the fish, which in turn sustains the chickens, the process is unique and sustainable which the community desires.
Finally and most importantly our smart and unique vertical strawberry farm is located on the left. The farm is a new economic and food source, which has the potential for new tourism qualities.
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THE SERUT "STRAWBERRY SOLUTION"
Our vertical Strawberry farm is the concept we are most excited about, as we believe the possibilities for its success are endless. This community asset delivers on all social, economic and environmental fronts, sustains the villager’s way of life and builds on the communities wishes of self-sustainability and a new economic base. The structure its self is rather simple and is demonstrated in the short video BELOW, it allows multiple plants to grow, in a small amount of space. The idea for this farm builds on the communities wishes and as such we believe will be accepted and expanded over time.
Strawberries are not found in this region of Indonesia and therefore offer a new market. As well as a local food source there are several opportunities to export either fresh or through home industries (such as jam making). Further there is a big potential for tourism – such as hand picking programs, tours of the site, and purchasing products. These all offer new employment sources – diversifying employment, new income sources for individuals and the community as a whole and bringing tourism to the region – showcasing the sustainable village community. It is anticipated that the first farm will be a community asset, while individuals or groups can build subsequent farms on the same model. Villagers can purchase strawberries themselves for home industry production. The farm helps forms the blueprint on how a village can be sustainable and self resilient, economically viable and offer a good standard of living.
The strawberry farm will be initially set up in the medium term of recovery. It is important that we ensure that the village occupants are stable, safe and are fully committed to creating this incredible strawberry farm. The turnaround for strawberry growth is very quick however and could produce a very quick boost to the local economy if a sponsor can be found early in the piece. The Long term goal of the strawberry farm is to be turned into, not only a productive sustainable resource, but a vertical feature that tourist’s will want to come and see in person. Which will open up the opportunity to sell produce created from the farms as well as the ability to establish a tourism room to tell the village’s story.
It is important to make note that we are not proposing a switch away from the farming that the locals already know and do so well. We are looking to add this as an additional low maintenance feature of the village that we think could help them achieve the goal of “Becoming the region’s blueprint for a self-resilient sustainable community”
TOURISM ROOM
Another initiative which came out of our community involvement meetings which we thought the Indonesian locals could implement as a future, long term goal is an Educational Tourism Room. Since we are hoping the strawberry farming will bring more tourists to the area, the Educational Tourism Room will provide the tourists/visitors with knowledge about Serut Village’s recovery plans, future proofing for earthquakes and a general understanding of everyday life in the village. In terms of understanding the logistics, it will be located near the entrance of the village, allowing people to access the room on arrival/departure. Inside the room, amongst what was previously mentioned will also be a donation box, providing a small boost for the villages income. It will be located in one of the temporary structures that is no longer being used as a money saving initiative, and run by local villagers who can add to the collection of information as time passes. This room will help the local community as a form of tourism, a form of employment and a showcase room so that the people of Serut Village can look through the room and be proud of what they have achieved over time. This project is still in the discussion phase and action will commence within the coming year.
SPONSORSHIP
Whilst undertaking this task we wanted to ensure that it would be economically achievable. For this reason we did some investigation into the costs associated with rebuilding a village such a Serut. Unfortunately the costs of materials and resources in Yogyakarta is quite hard to establish if don’t live in the area. For this reason we relied heavily on information provided to us primarily by Pak Toba the village leader and our UGM students. Pak Toba’s figures where based on the actual costs to rebuild the town in 2006 when all but 5 houses where left standing after a similar sized earthquake. So we took these to be fairly close to what it would cost to do it again but factored in a small amount for both; the possibility of increased cost of materials/resources, as well as our aim to build vertically.
The costs of the overall plan are illustrated in the spreadsheet on the left (click to enlarge). And locations of where the funds are coming from are also provided. We have provided a marketing strategy to try and get a corporate sponsor on board. We believe that it would be an ideal way to market your business for minimal cost and also help to save a community in need. 372,500,000 R.p (~$40,000.00 Au) would be enough funding to provide materials and resources to initially set up the strawberry farm and help with education and boosting tourism. Further funds could assist in rebuilding people’s homes as time goes on and help improve the community’s ability to sell produce at farmers markets.
It is also hoped that a marketing campaign could be run back in Australia in the medium to long term to continue to help support the strawberry farm. We believe that an “own your own piece of a strawberry farm” strategy would be a perfect way to not only raise funds for construction and elevation of the strawberry, farm but help to boost tourism in the village as well. People who own their own piece of an amazing strawberry farm would be very likely to go and visit it one day and taste the produce that it produces.
SUMMARY
This event if it was ever to occur would bring many hardships to the people of Desa-Serut, however their strong social capital and determination will help them recover. Our plans we believe build on this while giving many opportunities, by splitting it up into three stages we believe the transition into a new and improved village will be a success. The first two stages are similar to existing plans, this is because these plans are achievable, proven and are what the community wishes. Our long-term plan however builds on this while giving the community the chance to grow. In terms of land use planning, the spatial footprint of the village remains the same, however we look at the space more efficiently. We do this by creating an integrated planning solution concept. By blending community use, new and old farming techniques and tourism purposes the concept blends economic potential, environmental respect and social inclusion to form a communal hub. Further the element of our vertical strawberry farm offers new employment, income and tourism sources. Through clever marketing the possibilities of the concept are endless and offer the village a bright future.