Research Approach to Evaluate Post-Disaster Road Reconstruction in Indonesia

In the decentralized system in Indonesia, the authority and responsibility in the
management of most infrastructure facilities, including road networks, have been
transferred from the national government to the local governments. In the event of
major disaster, road infrastructure sector often suffers a considerably large amount
of damages and losses. As nearly 80% of the road networks in Indonesia are district
roads, the overall quality and sustainability of the road infrastructure are
significantly dependent upon the capacity of local government in road management.
Nevertheless, even though literatures on road maintenance issue are abundant,
literatures that link road reconstruction with the maintenance aspects in post-disaster
reconstruction context are very limited. Accordingly, this paper, which is based on
an on-going PhD research, highlights the main issues in post-disaster road
reconstruction and subsequently discusses the research methodologies adopted for
the study and illustrates how the philosophical stance perceived in the study leads to
the selection of a case study as a suitable approach.