Disaster displacement: Indonesia country briefing

Drivers of internal displacement

All of Indonesia’s more than 17,000 islands are prone to disasters.1 Rapid population growth and urbanization have concentrated millions of people in highly exposed areas, and some communities are more vulnerable to disaster impacts as they have lower coping capacities.2 These factors combine to give Indonesia some of the highest levels of displacement associated with disasters worldwide.

Despite these challenges, the country has good disaster risk management, and most displacement takes place in the form of the pre-emptive evacuation of populations at risk that take refuge in government-run shelters and centers.

Indonesia is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its position at the intersection of three major tectonic plates makes the country particularly prone to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis. It also experiences an annual monsoon season, which causes annual flooding and landslides.
Hazard maps show that a significant proportion of the population lives in areas at high risk of being affected by such hazards.5 Around 5%—more than 11 million people—live in areas prone to earthquakes, and around 2.5 million people are exposed to tsunamis.6

After decades of rapid urbanization, in 2019 nearly 56% of Indonesia’s population lived in urban areas, many of which have high exposure to hazards and climate change impacts.7 During 2012–2021, primary forests, secondary forests, rice fields, and shrubs decreased. The unregulated pumping of groundwater has made the Greater Jakarta Area more prone to flooding (endnote 4). The coastal city is crisscrossed by 13 rivers that often break their banks during the monsoon season. The growth of informal settlements, rapid changes in land use, and the inability of its drainage system to cope have also increased the city’s vulnerability to floods. Local authorities have devised a climate action plan and put flood protection measures in place, and there are longer-term plans to move the city to a new location.8

Human activities including deforestation, land degradation, and unplanned urbanization are increasing flood displacement risk. In South Kalimantan, the loss of forest coverage due to mining and plantation activities has reduced the region’s ability to absorb heavy rainfall (endnote 3).

Scale of displacement

During 2010−2021, 6.5 million new displacements were linked to at least 1,845 disaster events that were recorded across the country. Floods caused 63% of the displacements, earthquakes 21%, and 13% resulted from volcanic eruptions. Storms and wet mass movement—such as landslides—accounted for the rest. The events that caused the most displacements were: