List of natural disasters in Indonesia explained

Natural disasters in Indonesia can usefully be divided into major disasters, medium level disasters, and lesser disasters which although causing less damage are very common across Indonesia. These can conveniently be considered as macro, mezzo, and micro events. Policies to respond deal with each of these different types of disasters.

The official website of the Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana) provides frequent updates on disasters occurring in Indonesia.

Major natural disasters with widespread loss of life

The following is a list of main natural disasters that have occurred in Indonesia during recent history which have led to major loss of life (broadly defined here as over 500 deaths in the disaster).

Year	Month	Event	Place	Main area	Death toll
1257					Huge eruption (1)
1586					10,000 est
1815	Apr				11,000 est (2)
1815	Nov	Earthquake and tsunami	Singaraja and Surabaya	Bali and East Java	>11,400
1822	Oct	Galunggung	West Java	West Java	4,010
1833	Nov		West Sumatra	West Sumatra and Bengkulu	numerous
1861	Feb		North Sumatra		2,000 est (3)
1883	Aug	Eruption of Krakatoa	Sunda Strait	West Java and Lampung	36,417
1892	Jun	Mount Awu eruption	North Sulawesi	North Sulawesi	1,530 est
1899	Sep	Seram earthquake and tsunami	Seram Island	Maluku province	3,864
1917	Jan	Bali earthquake	Bali		1,500
1919	May	Kelud eruption	Blitar	East Java	>5,000
1926	June	Papua earthquake	Papua	Papua and Papua New Guinea	>5,000 (4)
1930	Nov	Merapi eruption	Yogyakarta	Yogyakarta and Central Java	>1,300
1963	Mar	Agung eruption	Bali	Bali	2,000 est
1976	June				5,000
1976	July				573
1992	Dec		Flores		2,500
2004	Dec		Aceh and Nias		170,000 (5)
2005	Mar				1,300
2006	May	Yogyakarta earthquake	Bantul		5,782
2006	July		Pangandaran		660 est
2009	Sep		Tasikmalaya		79 est
2009	Sep				1,115
2018	Aug	Lombok earthquake^[1]	North Lombok	Lombok	564
2018	Sep				4,340 (6)

(1) Total death toll unknown. The eruption is believed to have had a worldwide impact.
(2) This is the estimated death toll from the direct impact of the eruption. A total of perhaps 70,000 people are estimated to have died from starvation and disease in the area in the months following the eruption. See also 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora.
(3) "Some thousands" are reported to have died.
(4) Source: MCEER, University of Buffalo, The State University of New York, Major Indonesian Earthquakes of the 20th Century, accessed 29 December 2013.
(5) This is the estimated death toll in Indonesia. An estimated 60,000 more people died in other countries surrounding the Indian Ocean, especially in Sri Lanka.
(6) The original official death toll was around 2,200. However several thousands more, perhaps 4,000 or more, were buried in a major mudslide during the earthquake. It has therefore been difficult to compile a reliable estimate of the final toll. As of February 2019, it was estimated that over 4,300 died.^[2]

Medium level natural disasters

In addition to the disasters listed in the table above, there are a large number of natural disasters in Indonesia which cause medium levels of loss of life (here defined, roughly, as between 50 and 500 deaths) or which give rise to large numbers of internally displaced refugees, sometimes for some months or more. Some recent examples of these include the following.

Year	Month	Event	Place	Main area	Death toll	Evacuees (estimates)
1965	Jan	Sanana earthquake			71	n.a.
1966	Apr				>210	n.a.
1968	Aug				>200	n.a.
1979	Feb				149	n.a.
1981	Jan				>300	n.a.
1982	Apr				72	62,000
1990	Feb	Widespread floods^[3]			169	approx 20,000
1994	Feb				approx 200	> 2,000 injuries
1997	Sep	Indonesian forest fires^[4]			240	?
2000	June				>100	> 10,000 houses seriously damaged
2006	Jan	Sijeruk landslide			240	?
2006	May				n.a.	approx 40,000
2007	Oct				n.a.	30,000
2009	Sep				approx 80	approx 210,000
2010	Nov		South of Mount Merapi		353	350,000
2010	Aug		Karo Regency	North Sumatra	1	30,000
2010	Oct		Wasior	West Papua	145	7,900
2010	Oct		Mentawai Islands	West Sumatra	440	20,000
2014	Feb		Karo Regency	North Sumatra	16	over 30,000
2014	Dec	Karangkobar landslide	Banjarnegara Regency		108	2,038
2016	Dec	Pidie Jaya earthquake^[5]	Pidie Jaya Regency		approx 100	over 45,000 displaced
2018	Dec				437	over 46,000
2019	Jan				68	?
2019	Mar				113	11,000
2021	Jan				108	20,000*
2021	Apr		East Flores Regency		183	8,000+
2021	Dec				57	10,655

Note. Estimates of the numbers of evacuees can vary considerably in short periods of time. In some cases large numbers of people move away from a threatened area but return to their homes as soon as possible. It is often the case in Indonesia that people are reluctant to move away from their homes, or stay away long, because of worries about loss of property through theft and because of the need to look after local farms and cattle. Figures listed here are generally the peak numbers although sometimes different sources provide different estimates.

Lesser natural disasters

There is a large number of smaller natural disasters in Indonesia each year which often lead to deaths of 10 or 20 people or more. For example, landslides (tanah longsor) are very common in upland areas, especially during the rainy season, and cause much local damage and deaths.^[6]

Flooding is also a regular problem across many parts of Indonesia. The capital city Jakarta is subject to severe floods from time to time which usually cause some loss of life and significant damage to public and commercial infrastructure. In January 2014, for example, over 20 people lost their lives during widespread flooding and at one stage over 60,000 citizens were temporarily housed in nearly 250 evaluation shelters across the city.^[7]

In many rural areas, local flooding is very common and brings loss of life as well as much local inconvenience to economic and community life. Recent examples of these sorts of problems at the regional level include:

A landslide at a resort in Pacet near Mojokerto in East Java in 2002 when over 30 people died.^[8]
A landslide in Agam Regency in West Sumatra in January 2013 which left 20 people dead.
A series of landslides and floods in Manado in North Sulawesi in February 2013 which caused much damage and killed at least 17 people.^[9]
A landslide in West Bandung Regency in West Java in March 2013 in which 17 people were killed^[10]
Flash floods and landslides in Manado in North Sulawesi in January 2014 in which at least 16 people died and 40,000 were evacuated.^[11] Around 1,000 homes were flooded; the government allocated Rp 3.3 billion (almost $300,000) for assistance.^[12]
A 6.4-magnitude earthquake in late July 2018 killed at least 16 people, and injured around over 350, in Lombok in Eastern Indonesia.^[13]
Floods in Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek) on 1–3 January 2020 killed at least 48 people, and more than 31,000 people were evacuated.^[14] Floods occur because of rain that occurred from 31 December 2019 to 1 January 2020.^[15]

National outlook

2014

According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB, or Badan Nasional Penanggulanan Bencana), as many as 566 people were killed by natural disasters and displaced over 2.6 million in Indonesia in 2014. Almost all of the disasters were classified as hydro-meteorological events. Tornadoes were the most common natural disaster (496 events) followed by floods (458 events) and landslides (413 events). Landslides caused the most deaths estimated at 343 people.^[16]

External links

Official website of the Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana). This website provides useful statistics on disasters in Indonesia.
The ReliefWeb Indonesian page provides information on disasters in Indonesia since the mid-1980s.
The website of the Java Reconstruction Fund, which was established after the major earthquake in Yogyakarta in 2006, provides useful references about approaches to disaster relief in Indonesia.
Disaster displacement: Indonesia country briefing, 2023

Notes and References

Karina M. Tehusijarana,'What you need to know about the Lombok earthquake', The Jakarta Post, 6 August 2018, and Kiki Siregar, 'Death toll in Lombok quake hits 131, more than 156,000 displaced.', The Jakarta Post, 8 August 2018. The death toll coninuted to rise as further reports of damage became available: 'Ministry, geological agency provide clean water to Lombok evacuees', The Jakarta Post, 14 August 2018. The official count is regularly updated on the website of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (in Indonesian).
Ruslan Sangadji, 'Central Sulawesi recovery to take three years', The Jakarta Post, 2 February 2019.
http://reliefweb.int/report/indonesia/indonesia-floodslandslides-feb-1990-undro-information-reports-1-2 UNDRO report for February 1990
Web site: Capter 3 It Only Takes A Spark: The Hazard of Wildfires . Brookings.edu . 24 July 2018.
Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Ina Parlina, Hotli Simanjuntak, 'Aceh quake kills at least 94', The Jakarta Post, 8 December 2016.
Agus Maryono, 'Hundreds of villages in C.Java prone to landslides', The Jakarta Post, 8 December 2014, and Agus Maryono, 'Hundreds buried alive under Banjarnegara landslides, The Jakarta Post, 16 December 2014.
Indah Setiwati, 'Flood death toll rises to 23 people', The Jakarta Post, 27 January 2014.
Ainur R. Sophiaan, 'Rescue team ends search for bodies at Pacet hot springs', The Jakarta Post, 18 December 2002.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/02/19/landslides-floods-kill-17-manado.html Landslides, floods, kill 17 in Manado'
'Landslide site unsuitable for settlement', The Jakarta Post, 27 March 2013.
'Death Toll Climbs to 16 as Menado Floods Leave Tens of Thousands Displaced', The Jakarta Globe, 16 January 2014.
'Govt allocates Rp 3.3bn in aid for flood victims', The Jakarta Post, 17 January 2014.
Panca Nugraha, '10 die in Lombok earthquake, Mt Rinjani closed to hikers', The Jakarta Post, 29 July 2018, and Gemma Holliani Cahya, 'More than 1,000 hikers evacuated from Mt. Rinjani', The Jakarta Post, 31 July 2018.
Web site: [UPDATED] At least 26 deaths reported as floods, landslides strike Greater Jakarta]. The Jakarta Post. en. 2020-01-02.
Web site: New Year's Eve flooding kills 16, displaces thousands in Jakarta. UPI. en. 2020-01-02.
'566 people killed by natural disasters in 2014: BNPB', The Jakarta Post, 31 December 2014.