Humanitarian risk in Indonesia, Central Asia, Burkina Faso and South Africa
These countries and regions were selected not because they represent today’s largest humanitarian crises, but because they shed light on the interplay of crisis risks. This section presents brief summaries of the risk landscape in each country or region. It is intended as background.
Three field-research missions (Indonesia, Burkina Faso and Central Asia–Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) were conducted for this report. Findings of another study, Humanitarian Trends in Southern Africa: Challenges and Opportunities71 were also incorporated into its findings.
Further analysis, including of how local and international actors understand and manage risks in each country and region, as well as the findings of research carried out during the field missions is incorporated throughout this report.
Indonesia Indonesia is one of the world’s most disasterprone countries in the world’s most disasterprone region. Since the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, which claimed over 150,000 lives, there have been several major emergencies in that country. The Yogyakarta earthquake in 2006 killed more than 5,000 people and injured 15,000, “reducing hundreds of buildings to rubble, severing essential services and damaging roads and airport runways.”72 The West Java earthquake in 2009 damaged 65,000 houses, killing 72 people and displacing 88,000.73 In 2009, several earthquakes in West Sumatra killed 1,000 people and injured another 2,000.74 75 In 2010, a tsunami off the coast of Sumatra and the eruption of Mount Merapi in Java killed more than 600 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.76 The number of disaster-related deaths in Indonesia has declined, but an increasing number of people live in highly exposed areas, and the number of people affected by crisis is increasing.
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Between 2000 and 2010, Indonesia’s urban population grew from 85.2 million to 118.3 million, concentrated predominantly in coastal areas. This was accompanied by inappropriate urban planning and deficient building standards, exacerbating the potential damage caused by earthquakes, floods or landslides. In January 2013, for example, seasonal rains flooded several districts in Jakarta, including the city centre and Government buildings, affecting 250,000 people and displacing 40,000. The deficiencies of the capital’s infrastructure (drainage system, canals and water reservoirs) were accentuated by a weather event that was neither extraordinary nor unpredictable.
33 million Growth of Indonesia’s urban population between 2000 and 2010, mainly in coastal areas77