Original Research

Twenty years of community-based disaster risk reduction experience from a dryland village in Indonesia

Jonatan A. Lassa, Yos Boli, Yulius Nakmofa, Silvia Fanggidae, Alex Ofong, Herman Leonis
Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies | Vol 10, No 1 | a502 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v10i1.502 | © 2018 Jonatan A. Lassa, Yos Boli, Yulius Nakmofa, Silvia Fanggidae, Alex Ofong, Herman Leonis | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 02 June 2017 | Published: 03 May 2018

About the author(s)

Jonatan A. Lassa, Emergency and Disaster Management Studies, Charles Darwin University, Australia
Yos Boli, Bank of Indonesia, Kupang, Indonesia
Yulius Nakmofa, Disaster Management Community Association, Perhimpunan Masyarakat Penanganan Bencana, Indonesia
Silvia Fanggidae, Yayasan PIKUL, Kupang, Indonesia
Alex Ofong, Disaster Management Community Association, Perhimpunan Masyarakat Penanganan Bencana; National Task Team Provincial Legislative Office, Kupang, Indonesia
Herman Leonis, Disaster Management Community Association, Perhimpunan Masyarakat Penanganan Bencana, Indonesia

Abstract

Academics and practitioners often argue indirectly that all the roads to community resilience should be paved with community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) approach. Community-based approach to resilience building has been a discursive material that appeals many disaster management players including international donors, non-governmental organisations and high-level government officials as well as politicians. Some researchers argue that CBDRR is the foundation of disaster risk governance. Unfortunately, globally, there is lack of studies on long-term and real-world experience of CBDRR. This article addresses this research gap by providing insights of CBDRR activities from a village in eastern Indonesia based on long-term studies. The adoption of CBDRR approach in Indonesia took place in the late 1990s and the authors have been part of the early adopters of the framework. Using longitudinal participant observations, this research combined qualitative and quantitative data collected during 1998–2017. It shows the rise and fall of a community responding to disaster risks over time. The article further highlights stories of frustrations and celebrations that surround CBDRR activities implemented by one local community in a dryland village in eastern Indonesia.

Keywords

community based disaster risk reduction; flood risk; drought management; climate adaptation; risk governance; community adaptation; West Timor farmers

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Crossref Citations

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doi: 10.1007/s10346-020-01391-w