The floods in Indonesia are a big annual problem for the poorest areas along rivers especially in East Java along the Bengawan Solo. The impact is not only on their houses, but their lands, their plantation fields, their animals and also the infrastructure within the villages. This means that every year they have to rebuild, renovate and replant all that has been destroyed due to the floods, leading to big financial losses.
Since there is corruption in Indonesia in the field of disaster mitigation, there are funds to renovate and take care about the flood victims but it is difficult to place the money into the pockets of the people who need it. By using local materials the villagers can rebuild and renovate by themselves without having to use the slow and corrupt bureaucracy.
I have chosen to study some areas in East Java that have annually problems with flooding along the Bengawan Solo River, both in the cities as well as in the villages, where the conditions are poor and the effects are bigger for the poor inhabitants to get a better understanding for the impacts of the floods.
This analysis together with Walk Through Evaluations and interviews made with both the heads of the two villages I have studied and the inhabitants in the villages have lead to a plan proposal for sustainable dwellings to be better adapted to the floods. My thesis results in two different proposals for both villages, that will create a village that can survive all year round with less problems from the impact of the river Bengawan Solo.
Source: Blekinge Institute of Technology,
Author: Gregersdotter, Lina