T

he Yogyakarta administration has warned local residents against rebuilding homes on disaster prone sites in the aftermath of the deadly 2010 Mount Merapi eruptions, and has threatened sanctions over violations.

Governor Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X said building houses in disaster prone areas would be deemed an infringement of the disaster mitigation law.

“I am telling the residents not to build houses on the zone. If they insist, we will bulldoze them,” the governor said on Saturday.

He was attending a ceremony for the construction of 305 units of houses at Glagaharjo village, Sleman regency, for eruption survivors.

The houses, whose construction is funded by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), are provided for those from the villages of Banjarsari, Jetis Sumur and Gadingharjo.

Sri Sultan said residents building houses in the danger zones could be charged and facilitating officials could also be liable to imprisonment.

After the eruptions, which killed more than 300 people and destroyed the vast agricultural areas, the government designated disaster prone areas as Danger Zone 1, Danger Zone 2 and Danger Zone 3, with the last zone being considered the most critical area.

The government instructed people to move to safe areas in order to reduce the disaster risk. Each family received Rp 30 million (US$3,210) in financial support to build a 6x6 house on a 100 square-meter plot of land.

Sri Sultan hoped that evacuees could live safe lives far from the threat of the volcano, which is next predicted to erupt some four years after 2010.

“The residents on Merapi’s slopes have so far rebuilt their lives but those efforts will be in vain due to subsequent eruptions,” he said.

Sleman Regent Sri Purnomo hoped that the people who had been provided with new residential housing in Glagaharjo would not move back to those danger zones. He urged caution in living with Mt. Merapi.

The 2010 eruptions flattened 3,023 houses. The government has completed the construction of as many as 411 units of permanent houses. A number of 163 houses are under construction while 690 will follow.

Muhdi Marjono, 75, from Ngancar hamlet, said he was happy to have a new house in Glagaharjo village.

“I’m relieved to have the house after ours swept away by the cold lava,” he said.

The government has offered survivors the option of moving from Java under the transmigration program, but Suranto, another survivor, preferred to reside at Glagaharjo.

Apart from the government’s warning over the disaster risk, some 500 families are reported to have remained in Danger Zone 1. They live at Kalitengah Lor, Kalitengah Kidul and Srunen hamlets, about 4 kilometers from the Merapi caldera.

Soetrisno, head of a rehabilitation and reconstruction team, said that the residents would be persuaded to move to newer, safer places.

“If they do not take the opportunity, they might lose their rights to financial support,” he said.