Developing Community Disaster Resilience in the Lembang Fault Area, Indonesia: Lessons Learned from Japanese Experience

Abstract

Having experienced large-scale disasters between 2004 and 2006, the fatalities due to large-scale disasters in 2018 in Indonesia were still high. In contrast, community disaster resilience (CDR) and disaster risk management (DRM) in Japan have been continuously improved. Thus, there is a need to develop CDR for supporting DRM in Indonesia by learning from the Japanese experience, particularly in a disaster-prone area without large-scale disaster experience. This research was a pilot project on the development of CDR in Indonesia. The case study was Lembang Fault area, which is a geologic hazard-prone area. People’s perception was collected using structured interviews, while demographic and local economic data were acquired from official statistical publications. Satellite images were utilized to acquire the imageries of natural and built environment, as well as land use/land cover and its changes, between 2019 and 2021. Based on CDR assessment in the Lembang Fault area, the levels of people’s participation and capacity on DRM were low. This may be caused by the low level of training and education, linking of social capital and past disaster experience, as well as the inability of the people to interpret the symbols in indigenous knowledge. Moreover, government interventions on DRM and land administration are required to develop CDR in the Lembang Fault area. Organized community development is expected rather than to solely involve universities and NGOs. Furthermore, strategies to develop economic resilience are needed to allow the community to bounce back from future disaster. Finally, baseline data should be collected and managed to develop DRM strategy and CDR.