Dark tourism: volcano villages in Indonesia destroyed by eruption offer grim testament to its power
- Coins, bottles, glasses and bicycles all melted, a clock that stopped when Mount Merapi erupted in 2010 – villages on its slopes show forces of nature at work
- Gas clouds, lava, and a torrent of rocks killed 350 people then, but villagers returned to Merapi’s slopes and, unable to farm, have turned to disaster tourism
Nine years on, villagers still talk about the enormity of the catastrophe: the volcano spewed some 140 million cubic metres of rock and ash, destroying three communities, and series of eruptions killed 353 people; more than 61,000 were evacuated. Material losses amounted to 4.23 trillion rupiah, with more than 3,000 buildings damaged.
Mount Merapi, 2,968 metres high, is known as one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, with an eruption occurring every two to five years.
Many people choose to accept the risks of continuing to live in disaster-prone areas near the mountain. They’ve managed to make some money out of it through disaster tourism.
Nine years ago most of the villages around Mount Merapi were engulfed in hot clouds of poisonous gas, engulfed by lava flows and subjected to a torrent of incandescent rock. Cangkringan subdistrict, less than 10 kilometres from the mountain’s summit, was worst hit.
“At that time, hot clouds hit the village, where most the population raised cattle,” says Agus Riyanto, a driver of one of the jeeps. “Many cows died, meaning people lost their livelihoods.”
