J. Eng . Te c hno l. Sc i., Vo l. 47, No . 2, 2015, 201-206 201 A Case Study of Excreta Disposal Following the 2006 Java Earthquake * Thye Yoke Pean 1 , Agus Jatnika Effendi 1 , Prayatni Soewondo 1 , Damir Brdjanovic 2 & Tjandra Setiadi 3 1 Department of Environmental Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jalan Ganesa 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia 2 UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, PO Box 3015, 2601 DA Delft, The Netherlands 3 Centre for Environmental Studies (PSLH), Bandung Institute of Technology, Jalan Ganesa 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia Email: yokepean@gmail.com Abstract. Providing safe excreta disposal following disasters is important for disease prevention and the safety and dignity of the affected population. This is challenging because every emergency varies due to the nature of the disaster, local conditions and the characteristics of the affected population. This paper investigates the impact of the 2006 Java earthquake on excreta disposal needs and the response to those needs. Relevant documents were retrieved from the ReliefWeb database, complemented by a literature search. The case study highlights gaps in rapidly providing latrines on a large scale. Three months after the disaster, only 57% of the latrines targeted had been provided. One way to address this problem is to better understand the factors affecting excreta disposal needs and response, allowing appropriate solutions to be identified more effectively. Keywords: earthquake; emergency; excreta disposal; sanitation; Yogyakarta. 1 Introduction The lack of sanitation following disasters is an important cause of communicable disease transmission [1]. In fact, some studies (e.g. [2]) suggest that excreta disposal can have a greater impact on health than drinking water quality. Just as importantly, toilet facilities affect the safety and dignity of the affected population. Guidelines for excreta disposal response are provided by the Sphere Project [3], which aim to ensure that the environment is free from human feces and that the affected population has access to appropriate and adequate toilet facilities. Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency has adopted similar standards [4]. Every emergency presents a different set of challenges depending on the nature of the disaster, local conditions and characteristics of the affected population. Received April 2 nd , 2014, Revised August 6 th , 2014, Accepted for publication February 3 rd , 2015. Copyright ©2015 Published by ITB Journal Publisher, ISSN: 2337-5779, DOI: 10.5614/j.eng.technol.sci.2015.47.2.9 * Part of this paper has been presented in The 2 nd International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure & Built Environment (SIBE), 19-20 November 2013, Bandung, Indonesia.