Striving to Reduce Disaster Risk: Vulnerable Communities with Low Levels of Preparedness in Indonesia

Abstract

An earthquake and tsunami disaster risk hotspot, Indonesia has already lost hundreds of thousands of lives due to these natural disasters. This country, according to geological history, has experienced such disasters for a long time, but its people seemingly have not learned much from them. Their preparedness level is still low, mainly as a result of their lack of knowledge and awareness of the hazards and the negative impact those hazards have. It can also be noted from the previous disasters that their victims are especially vulnerable groups living under poor socioeconomic conditions; these people subsequently undergo difficulties in recovering their economic livelihood. In fact, most Indonesian provinces, and their coastal areas in particular, are identified as “disaster high risk,” yet more than half the total population lives in and is dependent on these areas. Realizing the high degree of their vulnerability, the people of Indonesia have to prepare to anticipate such disasters, and different initiatives on community disaster preparedness have been executed throughout the country since the Aceh tsunami. The objectives of this study are to discuss the socioeconomic vulnerability of the Indonesian community in the context of earthquakes and tsunamis, the crucial need for the communities to anticipate these disasters, their preparedness conditions, and efforts to reduce disaster risks. The study applies primary data collection based on quantitative (survey) and qualitative (in-depth interviews, FGDs and observations)methodology; it supplies secondary data collection based on desk reviews.