The long-term impact of humanitarian housing interventions following the 2010 Merapi eruption

Abstract

There is strong evidence of the short-term impact of humanitarian interventions after disasters, however, relatively less is known about what, if any, impact this support has on long-term recovery outcomes in communities. This research examined long-term housing outcomes following assistance provided after the 2010 Merapi eruption in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. We surveyed 316 households who received and did not receive housing assistance following damaging lahar flows in the community of Jogoyudan to assess housing quality through a multi-dimensional measure. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression was used to evaluate the relationship of humanitarian assistance on housing quality outcomes, controlling for respondent and household demographics as well as the impacts of the disaster. Findings indicate that post-disaster housing assistance was positively correlated with higher long-term housing quality. Land tenure was found to be the strongest predictor of housing quality, explaining nearly a fifth of variance in housing quality. Livelihoods and construction abilities were also found to be significant predictors of long-term housing quality. Our results demonstrate the value of post-disaster housing programs in raising the living standard of recovering communities and the institutional, economic, and knowledge systems that support housing markets.