Disaster mitigation through oral stories: a case study around Singkarak Lake

Abstract

This study describes the disaster mitigation strategy around Singkarak Lake, Solok, and Tanah Datar District West Sumatra through the oral stories of ecological sites. Disaster management in Indonesia seems to ignore local memories contained in oral stories because they are considered myths. This study is an attempt to investigate how people build knowledge of disasters and how they understand disasters by utilizing the oral story of their environmental ecological sites. It is qualitative research in which the data for this study are collected by using the participant observation method. Besides, the interview with the local community as the source of data is also done. The results of the study indicate that the communities have an oral story on ecological sites. They believe in the contents of the story as truth and follow it as part of the social structure. The communities know and realize that they live in disaster-prone areas so the taboos and advice contained in the oral stories are agreed upon as oral norms to always maintain the balance of nature in their environmental landscape. Pilgrimages and salvations are routinely held at the graves of village leaders as a part of building togetherness and loyalty to the ancestors.