SENSE OF PLACE IMPACT ON MIGRATION PATTERN OF BUMI SEMERU DAMAI RESETTLEMENT SURVIVOR, INDONESIA

The completion of building facilities and economic empowerment activities in Bumi Semeru Damai (BSD), a settlement developed to accommodate survivors of the 2021 Mount Semeru eruption, failed to curb the return of former Semeru residents to their original dwelling site in the high-risk zone. By 2024, many of the houses in BSD were left uninhabited, as the owners had abandoned them, and returned to their native land. According to the findings from previous studies, the effectiveness of a relocation exercise is determined by the affected population’s sense of place (SP). As such, this investigation delves into the influence of SP, on the decision-making process of Mount Semeru eruption survivors, in terms of remaining in BSD, or migrating. Hermeneutic phenomenology research methods involve the gathering of data through census and semi-structured interviews, with four key figures. According to the results derived, in the context of the migration pattern (MP), 326 households were involved in either a short-term-domestic migration (after two days, a week, or a month, from BSD to their land of origin), or a long-term- external migration (after about a year, from BSD to another urban location). The factors influencing the MP of these households include their risk perception (RP), their socio-economic capital (SEC), the socio-ecological system (SES) of BSD, their place identity (PI), their place dependence (PD), their societal bonds (SBs), and their place attachment (PA). The findings derived through this undertaking, can be harnessed, for resettlement efforts that support the sustainable livelihood of the affected population.