Resettling at the Precipice: Deepening Vulnerabilities in Disaster Recovery from Upland Sulawesi

We analyze a 2006 landslide disaster in Indonesia that caused two neighboring villages to rebuild on increasingly precarious terrain. We use the pressure and release (PAR) model to examine natural hazards and disaster from a historical perspective, situating the origins of vulnerability among communities pushed to resettle in increasingly dangerous areas. From 2011, we conducted an initial five months of field research in two villages in Upland Sulawesi, followed by sustained engagement to trace the siting and reconstruction of settlements in locations highly prone to landslides in order to understand the conditions that led communities to rebuild in locations at heightened risk from similar landslide events. In doing so we extend research on the ways vulnerability and disaster risk extend into processes of recovery. Our extended analysis highlights the relational and unequal adaptive capacities unfolding among villagers. Our findings revealed that a combination of government development policies and market mechanisms established the roots of differentiated vulnerabilities, which were thereafter reinforced through disaster recovery planning and reconstruction initiatives. Thus, we show that risk and resilience are not only connected to a disaster event but also to efforts to rebuild and recover, illustrating how vulnerability is reproduced alongside initiatives intended to help communities recuperate and build resilience.