Disaster Management Practices Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: Emergency Response of Merapi Volcano Eruption

The first COVID-19 case in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (SRY), Indonesia, was reported in March 2020. When the case surge peaked, SRY was also exposed to effusive Merapi eruption (during which lava domes were formed on the southwest flank and inside the crater) accompanied by several pyroclastic flows and rockfalls. The research sought to evaluate disaster management practices during the eruption’s emergency response phase amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in the SRY. The primary data on the mechanism by which the disaster management was conducted were obtained from in-depth interviews with the key informant from the Local Disaster Management Agency (BPBD of SRY and Sleman District) and the Disaster Risk Reduction Platform (FPRB of SRY). They included ancillary data such as the number of vulnerable groups, susceptibility, and disaster risk from the National Disaster Management Agency. The research argued that several disaster management practices had been implemented during the emergency response phase that cooccurred with the COVID-19 pandemic, including modifying evacuation shelters to meet the requirements of the public health measures and planning the “sister village” and “sister school” system. In addition, all parties were actively involved in drafting and implementing new rules and regulations under the authority of the central and provincial governments. The critical question arising from the praxis is how strictly the health protocols had been enforced in the research area since the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased.