Disaster Management and Colonialism in the Indonesian Archipelago, 1840–1920

Abstract

Recent catastrophes have resulted in a growing disaster consciousness in Indonesian society. This chapter traces the early history of disaster management in the archipelago by looking at indigenous and colonial response to disaster in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The chapter discusses three cases: a volcanic eruption and earthquake on the island of Ternate in Eastern Indonesia in 1840; a volcanic eruption, earthquake and tidal wave on the island Sangihe Besar, north of Menado in 1856; and the eruption of the Gunung Kelud in 1919 in central Java. Together they form a snapshot of responses to disaster in colonial Indonesia, with the Kelud disaster of 1919 singled out because it marked the beginning of a new, prevention-oriented, colonial policy towards volcanic hazard.