Tsunami disaster resilience through dramatisation of local wisdom: The performance of Nandong Smong by Acehnese high school students in Simeulue regency, Indonesia

Abstract

Nandong Smong represents a vital element of Aceh’s local cultural wisdom that has long contributed to community-based tsunami risk reduction. Following the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, disaster mitigation initiatives have been integrated into school curricula, with innovative pedagogical approaches gaining prominence. This study explores the use of drama, specifically role-playing, to express and revitalise Nandong Smong as a medium for strengthening tsunami disaster resilience among high school students. An experimental design employing a pre-test–post-test group and a quantitative analytical approach was used to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. The results demonstrate that the role-playing model significantly improved students’ tsunami disaster resilience, with a contribution rate of 57.54%. The results highlight the potential for integrating local wisdom into creative learning strategies and suggest that similar approaches can be adopted in other disaster-prone coastal schools to enhance preparedness and resilience.
Contribution: The contribution of this research lies in its innovative integration of Nandong Smong local wisdom with drama-based role-playing learning as a practical non-structural mitigation strategy for high school students. This study demonstrates how culturally rooted narratives can be transformed into interactive learning experiences that enhance disaster awareness, preparedness and adaptive capacity among vulnerable groups in schools. Bridging traditional knowledge with contemporary pedagogical methods, this study provides a transferable framework that can be adapted to other tsunami-prone coastal communities. The findings highlight the potential of transformative, culturally responsive educational approaches to strengthen community resilience and sustain intergenerational disaster knowledge.