Penduduk di negara maju maupun di negara berkembang sering menghadapi idiosyncratic dan aggregate risk. Letusan Gunung Merapi yang terletak di di Kabupaten Sleman, Provinsi Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta pada bulan Oktober dan November 2010 menyebabkan 196 orang meninggal dunia, dan 2.586 rumah rusak. Studi ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji dampak letusan Gunung Merapi terhadap kehidupan masyarakat desa, menganalisis karakteristik sosial ekonomi rumah tangga, dan menginvestigasi coping strategy rumah tangga dalam menghadapi bencana erupsi pada jangka pendek (tiga bulan setelah erupsi), dan jangka panjang (enam bulan setelah erupsi) melalui mekanisme formal dan informal. Studi ini menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif dan kuantitatf. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan cara mewawancarai kepala desa, penduduk desa dan NGO serta mendistribusikan 188 kuesioner kepada rumah tangga di Kecamatan Cangkringan, Kabupaten Sleman dengan metode purposive sampling dan clustering. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa bantuan melalui mekanisme informal seperti bantuan yang berasal dari keluarga inti dan besar, teman dan tetangga, serta bantuan melalui mekanisme formal seperti bantuan yang berasal dari partai, NGO, perusahaan dan pemerintah penting pada pasca bencana. Bantuan yang berasal dari institusi informal diperoleh rumah tangga segera setelah terjadi bencana. Dalam jangka panjang, bantuan pemerintah lebih penting sebagai salah satu coping strategy rumah tangga karena keterbatasan jumlah sumber bantuan lainnya.

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People in the developed and developed countries often face idiosyncratic risk and aggregate risk. In October and November, 2010, the Mt. Merapi located in Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia erupted that caused 196 people dead, and 2,586 houses damaged. This paper aims to assess the impact of Mt. Merapi eruption on rural household livelihood, to examine socio-economic characteristics of households, and to investigate the coping strategies of the households against the eruption in the short term (three month after eruption), and in the long term (six month after eruption) through formal and informal mechanisms. This study use quantitative and qualitative method. Using purposive sampling and clustering, the data was collected by distributing 188 questionnaires from the households in Cangkringan Districts, Sleman Regency, and interviewing local leader, villager, and non-government organization. The findings are assistances from informal institution such as from nuclear and extended families, friends and neighbors, and formal institutions such as from party, non-government organization, company and government are important in the post disaster. Assistances from informal institutions were got by the households immediately after disaster. In the long term, assistances from government became more important as households’ coping strategies because amount of other assistances were limited.