Relokasi Permukiman Desa Suka Meriah Akibat Kejadian Erupsi Gunung Api Sinabung Kabupaten Karo

Abstract

Suka Meriah village is one of the villages that suffered considerable damage. This is because the distance of the village is very close to the Mount Sinabung, 3 Km from the summit and located in hazard zone III. One proposed solution to minimize the negative impact is to relocate Suka Meriah Village to a safer location and to provide the new area with facilities and infrastructure. The purpose of this research is to identify public opinion against the settlements relocation plan,to analyze the condition of the settlement relocation destination location and to study the problems that occur in settlements relocation plan. The method used in this research is a qualitative research method. The primary data were obtained through observation and semistructured interviews. Secondary data were obtained from bibliography and institutional data. The results show that villagers in Suka Meriah village generally agree with the settlement relocation activities. However, they expect that relocation activities quickly realized. The villagers do not have specific criteria for the type of new settlements. The relocation destination is in Siosar area which has a distance approximately 17 Km from Kabanjahe, the capital of Karo. Until the end of this study, August 2015, the new settlement in Siosar is still underconstruction. Social facilities and public facilities will be built at the site of relocation destination. We found several problems in the relocation process, such as : (i) economic activities is hindered since people are still in the refugee camps, and (ii) government grants to communities are not sufficient to meet the daily needs. These problems are likely to slow the settlement relocation ties.