Return Migration after the Tsunami in Indonesia

Clark L. Gray, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Cecep S. Sumantri, SurveyMETER
Duncan Thomas, Duke University

Natural disasters in the developing world frequently lead to involuntary displacement, and housing the displaced is a central focus of disaster relief. Due to the difficulties of data collection in this context, population studies to date have been able to provide only limited insight into these processes. We address these issues in the context of Indonesia following the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 by using a unique large-scale, longitudinal survey conducted by the Study of the Tsunami Aftermath and Reconstruction. We reconstruct migration histories for the first 30 months after the tsunami for >20,000 surviving adults, and use these histories to investigate the temporal and spatial patterns of displacement, return migration, and residence in emergency housing. Multinomial logit models provide insight into the selectivity of these migration streams. Preliminary results reveal that return migration was relatively rapid and selective for older adults with roots in the origin community.