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undreds of families living in three villages on the slopes of Mount Merapi, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, have asked the government not to forcefully relocate them from their homes, even though the area is categorized as extremely hazardous.

The three villages are Srunen, Kalitengah Lor and Kalitengah Kidul in the subdistrict of Glaga-harjo, Cangkringan district, Sleman regency, Yogyakarta. They are located some 7 kilometers from the crater of the recurrently erupting
volcano.

“We refuse to forcefully relocate them because they are human. They deserve to be treated as such and not just moved out like animals,”
Glagaharjo subdistrict administration affairs division head Sriyono told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The latest Lidar (light detection and ranging) image issued by the Volcanic Technology Development and Research Center (BPPTK) Yogyakarta confirmed that the three villages could potentially take a direct hit from pyroclastic flows if the volcano erupted.

Following the 2010 eruptions of Merapi, the government declared the villages part of disaster prone region (KRB) III, the most hazardous region, which could not be used as a residential area.

The decision was made based on the fact that the crater of Merapi opens to the south, meaning that if the volcano erupts, volcanic materials will head south in the direction of the three villages that are located on the southern slopes
of Merapi.

“Pyroclastic flows destroy infrastructure, which is why the concept of living in harmony with a disaster cannot be applied to these villages,” said BPPTK official Subandriyo.

Despite that fact, however, nearly 600 families in villages insist on remaining in their respective homes. Sriyono said residents were comfortable because their economic activities had recovered after the 2010 eruptions, which claimed no lives but damaged their houses.

Subandriyo said that if the residents insisted on residing there, it was urgent to keep improving their capacity to reduce the risk of the disaster.

A normal eruption of Merapi consists of a forming of a lava dome followed by lava falls and pyroclastic flows carrying some 12 million cubic meters of volcanic materials.

“Just three normal eruptions will fill up the canyon so that the pyroclastic flows will directly go to Kalitengah Lor, Kalitengah Kidul and Srunen villages,” Subandriyo said.

Kalitengah Kidul village head Jamin said he was aware of the risk but he and other villagers were not frightened, arguing that it was just a human calculation. The residents, according to Jamin, also believe that major explosive eruptions like the ones in 2010 that damaged their houses would only reoccur once in hundreds of years.

Head of Sleman Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Urip Bahagia said his agency would continue trying to help people in the villages by building disaster mitigation infrastructure, such as evacuation tracks, and by continuing to familiarize the residents with the risks they face.