Indonesian vulnerability and exposure to natural disasters as well as their

development are not new. It can be traced back centuries such as the eruption of Mt.

Krakatau or Krakatoa in 1883 that affected Indonesia and beyond. The explosion killed

more than 36,000 people and devastated hundreds of coastal areas (Simkin et al., 1984;

Strachey, 1888).45

Despite these historical examples, scholars only started to focus extensively on

disasters in Indonesia after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. As Olsen et al. (2003:

110) argue, the attention given to natural disasters has mainly been a result of media

coverage, political interest and stakeholder commitment. The 2004 tsunami served as

a catalyst in many ways. It contributed to ending the conflict in Aceh, which was one

of the affected areas, as Gaillard et al. (2008) illustrate in their study. It also helped to

improve the disaster management practice in Indonesia in a broader context, as I shall

demonstrate shortly. After the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, Indonesia experienced

subsequent major disasters; the earthquakes in Nias (2005), Yogyakarta (2006), West