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13 Oct 2021
Psychological Preparedness of At-Risk Indonesian Communities to Disaster (PREPARED)
Project leader: Mrs. Dr Pradytia Pertiwi
Level of education and university: PhD, Disaster Risk Reduction, The University of Sydney
Collaborating Organisations: Gema Difabel Mamuju
Project Location: Sleman, Banda Aceh, and Mamuju.
Activity Type: Research & Development and innovation
Sector: Disaster Prevention and Management
Project Rationale:
Indonesia is highly prone to natural hazards. Being situated in the “Ring of Fire,” which contributes to 90% of tectonic activity, has led to major earthquake disasters (BNPB, 2016). In 2018, Indonesia accounted for nearly half of the world’s disaster-related deaths, with 5,510 casualties (Centre for Epidemiology of Disaster, 2019). This was a result of two major earthquakes in West Nusa Tenggara and Central Sulawesi that shook Indonesia just two months apart.
Indonesia's overall disaster risk index has been steadily lowering since 2015, from ‘very high’ to ‘high’ (United Nations University, 2015; Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft & Ruhr University Bochum, 2020), due to, among other factors, the Indonesian Government’s programs to build disaster preparedness, such as Desa Tangguh Bencana (Disaster Resilient Villages) (BNPB, 2019). This program aims to establish self-contained villages that have the ability to recognise local hazards and organise community resources to increase the capacity to reduce disaster risk (BNPB, 2017).
The psychological aspects of community preparedness, however, have not been highlighted in community-based disaster preparedness programs such as Desa Tangguh Bencana. This is not specific Indonesia. A systematic review from Boylan and Lawrence (2020) reported that in the extensive literature about preparedness for natural hazard events worldwide, the primary focus has been on understanding and improving physical preparedness, while there has been less attention to psychological preparedness. Scholars such as Roudini et al. (2017) find that higher levels of householder psychological, or mental preparedness have been found to be associated with greater material preparedness, more effective stress management during a disaster event, and decreased likelihood of experiencing mental health problems in the aftermath.
Take the recent West Sulawesi earthquake in early 2021 for example. During the 6.2 magnitude earthquake, locals were caught unprepared and media such as Detik.com (Febriady, 2021) reported that many of those affected by the earthquake, especially local migrants, escaped the scene instead of helping to respond to the disaster and deliver aid. One of this project’s team members, who is Mamuju-based, observed that among those who were 'escaping' were psychologists. This caused quite a significant delay in psychological aid at the time, leaving the affected communities, those who are more at-risk, such as people with disabilities and seniors, at risk of developing psychological problems post-disaster.
In a contrasting example, another community in Magelang, Yogyakarta, was exposed to the risk of an active Merapi volcano a few months before Mamuju’s earthquake. As reported by the online news portal Merdeka.com (Lubabah, 2021), villagers of Krinjin self-evacuated to the safer neighbouring village of Deyangan, ahead of local government's instruction. This community had planned ahead for the needs of the most at-risk and vulnerable communities and mobilised their own resources in this evacuation (Lubabah, 2021).
The two examples above point to what Morrissey and Reser (2003) describe as psychological preparedness. These authors argue that psychological preparedness enhances people's ability to appraise information and make decisions about challenging circumstances, increase the likelihood of people anticipating the nature of the risks they face and so lay a foundation for the enhancing the efficacy of other preparedness development initiatives. There are at least eight published self-report measures of psychological preparedness (McLennan, Marques & Every, 2020), but none is developed within the Indonesian context (Palupi, 2021). Further, there has not been a community-based disaster preparedness program that focuses on improving awareness and action on psychological preparedness.
Project Beneficiaries:
- There are approximately 900 community members (300 in each location site) who will be consulted during testing of the tool (data collection) and will receive education and outreach on psychological preparedness planning following data collection. This number is based on the sample size calculator (at qualtrics.com) to obtain reliable quantitative data during the tool testing. Within these communities, the most at-risk and marginalised people will be considered, such as women, people with disabilities and older persons, and people living in poor and remote areas.
- At least 90 local disaster volunteers (including women volunteers, people with disabilities, and older person representatives) will be trained in psychological preparedness and the use of the tool to help communities to self-assess their psychological preparedness level and make necessary measures to plan for future disaster/crisis events.
Priority Development Area:
Health Security
Link with Australian organisation:
Centre for Disability Research and Policy (CDRP), The University of Sydney
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