Lashed by sharks, pelted by demons, drowned for apostasy: the value of myths that explain geohazards in the Asia-Pacific region

Abstract

The critical analysis of myths (traditional oral tales) can lead to an improved understanding of geohazards. This paper examines three groups of myths (volcano, earthquake, and coastal change) from Asia-Pacific cultures and shows how their analysis might contribute to the identification of unrealized geohazards in particular places as well as the magnitudes and recurrence intervals of these hazards. Many volcano myths involve gods within the mountains who are periodically angered and punish the people living nearby; through gifts, volcano gods are appeased, a process that has been widespread in parts of the Asia-Pacific region. Other volcano myths allow people to recognize eruption precursors or identify eruption locations. Earthquake myths often involve an animal within the Earth failing to support it upright. More recently, earthquakes have been interpreted as an expression of divine anger at the state of (local) human affairs. Myths also refer to earthquake precursors and have proved effective in eliciting appropriate community responses following tsunamigenic earthquakes. Coastal-change myths are more likely to be memories of long-term (postglacial) coastal change on which extreme-wave events were superimposed. The latter are the most memorable details in myths but the consequences of these events can be explained only by long-term change. Abrupt changes to Asia-Pacific coasts have also been captured by myths, ranging from local collapses of cliffed coasts to the disappearance of entire islands in the Pacific Ocean. Myths can supply information around the nexus of geological and historical data sources, particularly between 10²  and 10⁴ years ago. As such, myths have the potential to contribute “missing” data to long-term geohazard chronologies and thereby improve hazard understanding and preparedness. Myths from Asia-Pacific cultures that refer to community responses to geohazards can also be useful in contemporary strategies for awareness-raising. Geographers are uniquely qualified to identify and interpret myths that refer to geohazards. There is potential for many more such myths to be gathered from the Asia-Pacific region.

Keywords:

• hazards
• myths
• volcanism
• earthquakes
• coastal change
• disasters

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on a Distinguished Lecture I gave at the 10th Annual Meeting of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) in June 2013. I am grateful to Professor Kenji Satake and the AOGS Council for this honor. I also thank Shane Cronin, James Goff, and Judith Schlehe for discussion of particular issues. Two anonymous reviewers improved the original draft of this paper.

Notes

1. This happened for the first time in 1994 and was interpreted by the local people as evidence that the gods were unhappy with the Suharto government.

2. A common story about the 1452 Kuwae eruption (Vanuatu) is that a sorcerer, determined to destroy the island of Kuwae, inflated six pig bladders and placed them in a tree. Each day he burst one of the bladders, the last one destroying the island, but the previous five giving ample warning about what was going to happen (Galipaud 2002).

3. Sixty-four people died as a result of pyroclastic flows during the subsequent eruption.

4. The main part of the former Mt Meru is identified as (Mt) Sumeru, an active volcano in eastern Java. One version of the myth states that originally the mountain was dropped at the island's western end but caused it to become unstable, possibly a reference to earthquakes, so was moved along to its present position, pieces falling off along the way to form other volcanic peaks, possibly a reference to observations of their volcanic activity. The act of dropping Mt Meru in position caused its top to fall off, creating the smaller volcano of Penanggungan.

5. One explanation for the great Edo Earthquake in October 1855 in which some 7000 people were killed is that this demigod with all his fellow gods were gathered at a distant shrine which left the namazu free (Smits 2012).

6. Despite extensive enquiries, just a single survivor of the 1998 Aitape Tsunami knew a myth about the effects of such events. The story of “the smoking crab holes of Sissano” is in Davies et al. (2003).

7. It has been claimed that Dwaraka was submerged to a depth of 150 m by a combination of sea-level rise and (tectonic) subsidence (Chandrasekharam 2007); this seems exaggerated.

8. These include building of suitable houses, covering food gardens with grass, amassing enough food and water for four days, and sheltering dogs and pigs.