The role of social capital in enhancing community disaster preparedness and building back better in recovery

Abstract

As a country with high risk of disasters, the people of Indonesia have to prepare and anticipate these calamities. One of the most important aspects of disaster risk reduction at the local level is social capital. This paper discusses the role of social capital in strengthening community disaster preparedness for effective respond and its potential for building back after recovery, focusing on local wisdom, prior experiences and re-establishment of community livelihoods. Local wisdom plays an important role in raising community efforts to find relief and recover from the impact of the earthquake in Bantul and floods in Jambi. The spirit of community-self, mutual help and fundraising help the Javanese in Bantul to be strong and care among neighbors. The community that supported by the local leaders and institutions agreed to set up priority for affected people who need more help. Meanwhile, experiences of the people in Jambi on regular floods made them aware and assisted them to develop self-efficacy beliefs in disaster preparedness, including making plans as well as increasing skill to get ready for and respond to this disaster. This paper also shows that in addition to economic recovery programs from the government and donor in Bantul and Aceh, the community in Jambi used floods as a source of their alternative livelihood through fishing and its related activities, and perceived floods as economic opportunities. This paper utilises empirical evidence from cases across Indonesia that are collected from my research results under LIPI and Human Ecology research activities. Data is also collected from secondary sources that largely rely on desk reviews of relevant books, documents, papers, and other references.