Why tsunami survivors remain living in the same location? Evidences from Lampulo Village, Banda Aceh

This research aims to analyse factors influencing the Indian Ocean tsunami survivors to remain in the same location after the tsunami. Logistic model is utilized to measure factors influencing the decision to choose the tsunami affected village after the tsunami. Those factors are land ownership, income level, and profession. The concerned location is Lampulo Village in Banda Aceh, which was severely affected by the tsunami in 26 December 2004. Data is primary data generated from field interview for 200 respondents, divided evenly for respondents who used to live in the village but decided to move away and live in different locations, and respondents who remain living in the village. The results suggest that the main reason to choose resettling in the affected village is merely the land ownership. In other words, people who have lands in the village will have higher likelihood to remain living in the village 1.5 times higher than those who do not have lands. Other factors are not statistically important in decision making to remain in the village. The implication of this research show that disaster survivors will tend to choose the same location after disaster. It implies the stronger need to reduce the risks of potential disaster in those locations, making the human settlement safer against future disaster. This paper recommend policy makers to avoid relocating survivors to different locations, and to invest public funds to strengthen disaster preparedness in the disaster prone areas.