Risye Dwiyani and Norio Okada Children’s Perception on Their Quality of Life Around Merapi Volcano Jurnal Perencanaan Wilayah dan Kota, Vol. 20 No. 1, April 2009, hlm 1 - 14 CHILDREN’S PERCEPTION ON THEIR QUALITY OF LIFE AROUND MERAPI VOLCANO Risye Dwiyani and Norio Okada Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University Uji-Gokasho, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan E-mail: risyedwiyani@gmail.com; okada@drs.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp Abstrak Sebagai bagian dari sebuah komunitas yang berbagi ruang yang sama dengan beragam kepentingan, anak-anak dan suara mereka patut diperhitungkan dalam komunitas tersebut. Dunia mereka berbeda dengan dunia orang dewasa, sehingga pandangan mereka tidak boleh diabaikan. Studi ini difokuskan pada kehidupan anak-anak di sekitar Gunung Merapi dengan meneliti hal-hal yang membuat mereka bahagia atau tidak bahagia untuk tinggal di desa mereka. Studi ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi factor-faktor yang mempengaruhi perasaan mereka terhadap hidup mereka untuk mengungkapkan potensi dan permasalahan yang ada di desa mereka. Pengumpulan data melibatkan 94 (sembilan puluh empat) anak kelas 5 dan 6 SD di 3 (tiga) desa terdekat dengan wilayah Gunung Merapi. Perasaan anak- anak diungkapkan melalui gambar dan wawancara. Disimpulkan bahwa sebagian besar perasaan anak-anak tentang kehidupan mereka berkaitan dengan keberadaan gunung berapi. Selain keberadaan gunung berapi, faktor-faktor lain yang mengancam adalah serangan hewan dan kerusakan lingkungan karena aktivitas penambangan pasir yang tak terkendali. Kata kunci: anak-anak, Gunung Merapi, perasaan, kehidupan Abstract As part of a community who live in the same shared space with various interests, children and their voices need to be taken into account in the community. Their worlds are different from that of adults, thus their views should not be overlooked. This study focuses on the life of children near Merapi volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, by exploring on what makes them feel happy and unhappy about living in their village. It aims to identify the factors affecting their feeling towards their lives in order to reveal current potentials and problems of the villages around Merapi from children's points of view. The data collection involved 94 children from 5 th and 6 th grades elementary school of three upper-most villages in Merapi volcano area of Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia. Children’s feelings were expressed through drawings and followed up by interviews. It was found that many of the children’s feelings about their lives were related to the existence of the volcano, both in positive and negative ways. Besides the existence of the volcano, other factors were also found threatening according to children, such as the animal attacks and environmental degradation due to uncontrolled sand mining activities. Keywords: children, Merapi volcano, feeling, life 1. Introduction 1.1. Background Among 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, Merapi volcano (2968 m) is the most active one. It is also one of the most active and hazardous volcanoes in the world (Lavigne, F. et al., 2000; Thouret et al., 2000). Two recent major eruptions that caused fatalities occurred in 1994 and 2006. Merapi volcano lies between Yogyakarta Province and Central Java Province. This study covers only the part of Yogyakarta Province, which includes the area from the southwest flank to the southeast flank of Merapi volcano.