Hidden in the northern hills of Lombok, in the small hamlet of Amor-Amor, stands an architectural marvel that has withstood the test of time and tremors. On a visit in the second week of August 2025, Lingkar Bumi witnessed the resilience of Baleq Bala, a traditional Lombok house that has survived countless earthquakes for centuries.
“Baleq Bala means ‘disaster house.’ Baleq means house, bala means disaster — a house that endures calamities,” explained Jumedip, an elder in Amor-Amor and the owner of one such ancestral home.
Jumedip has lived in the house for nearly 60 years. The wooden structure, about four meters high and eight foot-steps wide, resembles a small stilt house. Like most traditional Lombok homes, it features a spacious veranda filled with farming tools and a berugak — a gazebo-like structure in front for receiving guests. The berugak’s wooden pillars are adorned with distinct Lombok carvings in black and red, shaped like horseshoes.
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A Foundation That Floats Above the Ground
The most striking feature of Baleq Bala is its foundation. The wooden pillars are not planted deep into the ground but instead rest on stones placed directly on the soil.
“Because the posts aren’t buried in the ground, the house simply shifts during an earthquake instead of collapsing,” said Jumedip.
This floating foundation design has proven remarkably effective, allowing the house to stand through centuries of seismic activity — including the devastating 2018 Lombok earthquake. That disaster flattened nearly every modern brick-walled home in Amor-Amor, yet Jumedip’s Baleq Bala and berugak remained standing.
“When there’s an earthquake, we run inside the house because it’s safer,” he added — a statement that contradicts modern earthquake safety advice, which typically encourages people to seek open spaces.
From Tradition to Reconstruction
After the 2018 disaster, volunteers adopted the Baleq Bala foundation concept for rebuilding homes in Amor-Amor. This choice came after community discussions and careful observation, which showed that traditional foundations performed better than modern brick walls in earthquakes.
While the rebuilt houses no longer use wood for pillars — opting instead for lightweight steel — and the roofs are made of patterned zinc sheets, the foundation principle remains the same. Some adaptations have also been made, such as replacing the stilt design with ground-level floors and adding ceramic tiles.
Today, eight years later, these post-disaster homes still stand strong, serving as a living example of how traditional wisdom can guide modern disaster-resilient architecture.
Although time will tell whether these adapted houses can match the earthquake endurance of the original Baleq Bala, one truth remains: embracing local knowledge is not just a matter of preserving culture, but of living in harmony with nature’s realities. (Sulung Prasetyo)
