The real tsunami in North Pagai

in: Shu-Mei Huang / Elizabeth Maly, Community responses to disasters in the Pacific Rim, London: Routledge

ISBN: 978-1-00-320641-5
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Sabeugunggung hamlet (North Pagai Island) was among the most severely hit by the deadly tsunami of October 25, 2010. A decade post-disaster, the Indigenous Mentawaian people of the hamlet are still struggling in the resettlement site. Our chapter describes past and current forced relocation, how the Indigenous Mentawaian experiences physical and psychological suffering, and social vulnerabilities of ongoing displacement. Before the tsunami, the residents of Sabeugunggung had already gone through decades of forced displacement. The designation of North Pagai as a state forest, together with large-scale timber extraction since the 1970s, have pushed them away from their ancestral land towards resettlements along the coastal zone, eventually exposing them to the tsunami. Post-tsunami reconstruction overlooks the histories of forced migrations, marginalization processes, and land rights. Conflicting interests and political tensions from various state agencies involved in reconstruction also complicate the process of place-making. The combination of historical marginalization, negligence of land rights, and political tensions reproduces a cycle of crises, worsening social disruption in the relocation site – named by the people as “the real tsunami.”

About the author

Rafliana, Irina

Sociology

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