Again, with a lovely day to start with a typical Indonesian style of breakfast. It was the last field visit and of course the mesmerizing one. We started our journey from the Cakra Kusuma hotel towards the northern part of Yogyakarta special region to witness the glory of Mt. Merapi, one of the most active volcanoes of the world. It is located in the central part of Java Island. It has been observed from the bus that how the life of the people of Yogyakarta entirely dependent on the landscape of volcanic events throughout the ages. Mt. Merapi is also called the ‘Mountain of Fire’ in Javanese. Furthermore, Merapi volcano plays a significant role to boost the tourism and an income generating source for the local inhabitants.
We were already in the critical zone of high risks which less than 10 km from the summit of Mt. Merapi. First, we visited the Merapi Volcano Museum to get an overview of the location, history, geomorphology and geology of Mt. Merapi Volcano followed by a short movie. As well as we were also introduced to the other active and dormant volcanoes in the world with the help of a map. We came to know how the event of devastating volcanic eruption and consecutive earthquake of 2010 changed the notion and behaviour of the inhabitants of the locality. Though the people live very close to the critical zones. I found that the Philosophy of Determinism exits here without any doubt. According to Determinism, man is a passive agent, and nature is active agent, which controls and determines the action and decision-making processes of man. So, here Merapi Volcano is playing a crucial role to intervene the policies and daily economic activities of the local people of this region.
Further, the most awaited part of the field trio was the lahar tour on Jeeps. Our group (Me, Kasimir, Long, and Adi). Our journey started with an extreme crazy driver and he is also one of the best. While, heading forward I witnessed the entire area is covered by volcanic dust, and we also visited a small museum which basically has the remains of the volcanic event of 2010. We stop at some other places to see the closure view of the Merapi volcano. Simultaneously,
some areas of the lahar flow are the source of daily economic activity (mining) for collecting sands and rocks for construction. Then the last part of the drive was crazy ride on the river water and it was the most fun activity out of the entire summer school.
The Second part of the field visit was at the district of Sleman which is famous for its endemic plants viz. Salak Pondah farming and its agro forestry development in the region. Basically, the fruit has a typical features with scales on the leather and the taste flesh of fruit is sweet. The region is very close to the Merapi volcano and therefore, it has affected by the volcanic dust during the 2010 eruption event. And there was a simultaneous decrease in the productivity of Salak Pondoh farming and also other economic activities after the event. But the local people
are trying to cope up with the situation. Terima kasih….!