Multi Hazards in Indonesia: Risk Reduction Approaches,

Policies and Practices

Mr. Wifandy RT Purba Sidadolog

Indonesia

Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management (DPMM)

Asian Institute of Technology
2012

Multi Hazards in Indonesia: Risk Reduction Approaches, Policies and

Practices
Introduction
After the great Tsunami hit Aceh (Indonesia) in December 2004, there are many natural disasters
occurred in Indonesia in the past 8 years. Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia
consisting of more than 18,000 islands straddling in the equator, which around 6,000 of them
were inhabited. Indonesia as part of the Ring of Fire, is a disaster prone country, has
experienced more than 11,000 events categorized as disaster between 1815-2012 affecting more
than 17,000,000 people in that period (DIBI BNPB, 2012). The mentioned geological,
hydrological and demographical condition, led to the vulnerability of the country facing natural
disasters.
The Indonesia National Agency for Disaster Management recorded in the Indonesian Disaster
Management Database (DIBI BNPB, 2012) that in the past 8 years, Indonesia was hit by various
large and small scale disasters, namely sabotage/terrorism, typhoon, flood, landslide, epidemic,
tidal wave/abrasion, earthquake, plant disease, forest fire, technological failure, drought, social
conflict, volcanic eruption, and landslide due to flood. The large scale disasters in the past 8
years are as follows (Bappenas, 2010):
-

Earthquake and tsunami which stroked Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra in
December 2004, claiming the lives of more than 165,000 people and causing property
losses of Rp. 4.45 Trillion;
Earthquake which stroked Central Java and Special Region of Yogyakarta, claiming the
lives of more than 5,600 people, damaging 156,662 houses and causing property losses of
Rp. 3.134 Trillion
Earthquake and tsunami in Pangandaran, West Java coast in July 2006, claiming the lives
of 658 people and causing property losses of Rp. 967 Billion
Flood in Jakarta in February 2007, causing property losses of Rp. 967 Billion and
inundating more than 145,700 houses.

Along with these conditions, there is a change in the paradigm of conventional disaster
management concepts into holistic disaster management concept. The conventional concept
assumes that the disaster is an inevitable event where victims should get immediate help, so the
focus of disaster management is more on relief and emergency assistance. Therefore, such a view
is called relief or emergency assistance oriented paradigm focusing on fulfilling emergency
needs, such as food, emergency shelter, health assistance, and overcoming crisis, which aims to
reduce losses, damages, and quickly restore order, while the holistic concept refers to the
paradigm of mitigation, prevention and development. In this case, the concept leads to the
concept of disaster risk reduction as an integrated plan that cut across sectors and regions and
includes social, economic and environmental elements (Lakhar Bakornas PB, 2007)
Indonesian Risk Profile
A disaster can be of natural hazards (natural disasters) and man-made hazards (man-made
disaster). Factors that may affect the magnitude of disasters such as:

1|Page

Natural hazards and man-made hazards, can be categorized as geological hazards, hydro
meteorological hazards, biological hazards, technological hazards, and environmental
degradation (UNISDR, 2009)
High vulnerability of the community, infrastructure and elements within an area/city
which having risk for disaster occurrence
Lower capacity of the components within the community.

Geographically, Indonesia is an archipelago which is located in the juncture of four tectonic

plates which are the Eurasian plate, Australian Plate, Pacific Plate and Philippine Plate. This
makes the Indonesian region one of the most seismically active zones of the earth. On the south
and eastern part of Indonesia, there is a volcanic arc along Sumatera Java Nusa Tenggara
and Sulawesi Island, which are having ancient volcanic mountains and lowlands, dominated by
swampy areas in their side. These conditions make Indonesia vulnerable to disasters such as
volcanic eruptions, earthquake, tsunami, flood, and landslide. This makes Indonesia one of the
countries with ten times higher occurrence of earthquakes more than that of America (USGS,
2012).
Earthquakes because of tectonic plate interactions, if occurred in the ocean, can develop surge
waves. Having its area very influenced by the tectonic plates movement, Indonesia often facing
tsunami which mostly caused by tectonic earthquakes. Indonesian coastal areas are areas prone
to tsunami disaster; especially west coast of Sumatra, the southern coast of Java, the northern and
southern coast of Nusa Tenggara Islands, the Molucca Islands, the northern coast of Papua and
almost the whole Sulawesi coastal areas. The Moluccas Sea is the most tsunami prone area, as
between the year of 1600 2000 there were 32 tsunami occurrence which 28 of them was caused
by earthquake and the rest were caused by subsea volcano eruptions (Bappenas, 2006).
Indonesia is located in the tropical climate region, having two seasons, which are the dry and
rainy season, featuring unique characteristic of extreme weather changes, temperature and wind
directions. This unique pattern of climate combined with the surface topographical condition and
unique physical also chemical soil properties, resulting in generally fertile lands. Whereas, this
condition is can also adverse effect such as hydro meteorological disaster, i.e. flood, landslide,
forest fire, and drought (Ministry of Environment, 2007).
Even though the structural development in Indonesia has been designed and regulated in a way
that it will have minimal environmental impact, it is impossible to avoid and eliminate all of
them. Development will still cause harm to the environment and the ecosystem, especially those
which concentrate on exploiting natural resources (particularly the large scale operations),
resulted in the loss of natural resources carrying capacity to the community. From year to year,
the forest resources are diminished, and the exploitation of mineral resources harm the ecosystem
and physically increase the risk of disaster (Bappenas, 2006). In the other side, the pace of
development increased communitys access to technology, but due to ill-advised technology
implementations and policies, resulting in fatal occurrence such as industrial and transportation
accidents and epidemics due to high rate of human mobilization.
Another serious potential for disaster is the demographical diversity of Indonesia. According the
national demographic survey, Indonesia has 237 Million of population in 2010 (BPS, 2012)
consisting of diverse ethnic groups, religion, and culture. The demographic diversity is a national
capital also a potential of conflict because of the high population growth was not followed by
2|Page

robust policies, socioeconomical and infrastructure developments, causing inequalities of

resource access thus become a hazard for a national (social) disaster.
Table 1 The total number and percentage of Regencies/Municipalities in Indonesia with Disaster
Risk of High Category

No
1
2
3
4
5
6

Type of Disaster
Earthquake
Landslide
Drought
Flood
Volcano
Tsunami

Total
184
154
152
174
79
60

High Risk Classification

% Total Regencies/Municipalities
40
34
33
38
17
13
Source: (Bappenas, 2010)

Table 1 indicates the intensity and the extent of disaster risk in Indonesia. Two out of five

regencies/municipalities in Indonesia is exposed to high and very high risk of earthquake based
on six types of disaster analyzed. Four out of ten regencies/municipalities in Indonesia are
exposed to high risk of landslide, drought and flood. Seventeen percent of the
regencies/municipalities in Indonesia are exposed to high risk of volcano, while one sixth of the
regencies/municipalities in Indonesia are exposed to high risk of tsunami. Compared to other
major islands, Java Island is exposed the highest risk of various disasters.
Global Perspective on Disaster Risk Reduction
According to principles of good governance and accountability, it is generally agreed that the
states should be main actors in DRR. As the community are those who are vulnerable to hazard
and affected by them, Disaster Risk Reduction in Indonesia become a shared responsibility
between the government and community, including international community. The global
definition of Disaster Risk Reduction refer to the concept and practice of reducing disaster risks
through systematic efforts to analyze and manage the causal factors of disasters, including
through reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise
management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events
(UNISDR, 2009).
The UN plays a significant role in the effort of encouraging countries to prioritize DRR as an
inseparable part of the sustainable development program. Those efforts were visible through the
list of resolutions made by the UN in relation with DRR, which climax was on December 22,
2005 where the UN made formal Resolution no 60/195 regarding International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction (ISDR). ISDR is a global approach to disaster risk reduction involving all
components of the community to minimize the losses of life, social and economic sectors and
environmental damages due to natural disasters, focusing on increasing community awareness of
DRR efforts; realizing governments commitment to DRR implementation policies and efforts;
promoting multi-stakeholders cooperation in DRR; improving the science application for DRR.
Just a few months before the UN made its formal publication of the UN resolution regarding
ISDR, the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction was held in Kobe, on June 2005,
attended by experts, scientist and government officials of 150 countries the UN and NGOs,
3|Page

resulting in the so called Hyogo Framework of Action (HFA) 2005 2015 with 5 priorities for
Disaster Risk Reduction:
(1). Ensure that disaster risk reduction is a priority at the national and local levels with a strong
institutional basis for its implementation;
(2). Identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and improve early warning;
(3). Use knowledge, innovation and education to develop a culture of safety and resilience at all
levels;
(4). Reduce fundamental risk factors;
(5). Strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels.
The Hyogo Framework for Action 2010-2015 is the first internationally accepted framework for
DRR. It sets out an ordered sequence of objectives (outcome strategic goals priorities), with
five priorities for action attempting to capture the main areas of DRR intervention. The
progress against Hyogo Framework is the reviewed by the UN and its member states during the
biennially in the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction Forum. (UNISDR, 2005). In
summary, the global perspective for Disaster Risk Reduction can be summarized as all activities
and efforts to minimize loss of lives, loss of assets and properties through disaster mitigation
efforts (prevention, increased preparedness) and reducing vulnerabilities (physical, social,
institutional, behavioral). Also that DRR is implemented by mainstreaming the elements of
disaster risk reduction into sustainable development policies, emphasizing disaster prevention,
mitigation, preparedness and vulnerability reduction.
Under the DRR approach, the disaster risk will be defined according to a disaster risk assessment
which is carried out to identify which hazards are more likely to occur and to have the biggest
impact on a communitys or individuals assets. The definitions are according to UNISDR
terminology on DRR (UNISDR, 2009).
Disaster Risk is the potential disaster losses, in lives, health status, livelihoods, assets and
services, which could occur to a particular community or a society over some specified future
time period. The disaster risk has two distinct components: hazard and vulnerability.
Hazard is a dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that may cause loss
of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social
and economic disruption, or environmental damage. And vulnerability is defined as the
characteristics and circumstances of a community, system or asset that make it susceptible to the
damaging effects of a hazard.
So, Risk can be expressed as a function of hazard x vulnerability. How one copes depends on
capacity. And risk is the resultant of the interaction of three functions which are hazard,
vulnerability and exposure. It can be said that reducing disaster risk can be done by reducing the
hazards and/or reducing the vulnerabilities and/or reducing the exposure of people to the hazard
(ADPC, 2005)
Regional Focus on DRR
In the regional level, the first conference regarding DRR was to follow up the World Conference
on Disaster Risk Reduction which was the Asian Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction,
conducted in Beijing on September 2005. The conference was participated by 42 Asian Pacific
4|Page

countries, 13 UN Agencies and International Organizations, with intention to implement the

outcome of the global conference on disaster risk reduction (Hyogo Framework for Action). The
conference reached an agreement as outcome called Beijing Action for Disaster Risk Reduction
in Asia (DRR Project Portal for Asia and the Pacific, 2012). The focuses are:
(1). Improve regional programs, including programs for technical cooperation, capacity building,
development of methodology and standards for monitoring and safeguard against hazards and
vulnerabilities, information exchange and effective mobilization of resources intended to support
national and regional efforts in achieving the objectives of the framework for action;
(2). Implement and publish regional and sub-regional baseline surveys on disaster risk reduction
status in accordance with the identified needs and their mandates;
(3). Conduct coordination and publish periodic studies on intra-regional progress, obstacles and
required support, and assist countries, if requested, in preparing periodic national summaries of
programs and progress;
(4). Establish or strengthen the existing specific regional cooperation centers in conducting
research, training, education and capacity building programs in the field of disaster risk
reduction; and
(5). Support the development of regional mechanism and capacity building for early warning
systems for disasters, including tsunamis.
The Beijing Framework encourages regional (Asia Pacific) countries and institutions to perform
their commitments toward DRR, and the HFA implementation is evaluated biannually.
In following up the Beijing Framework for Action and the HFA itself, in 2009 UNISDR along
with Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) facilitated the development of HIRAP (HFA
Implementation Regional Action Plan) for Asia and Pacific countries, which become the
Regional Focus on DRR referring the global priorities of HFA. There were 8 components of the
action plan (ISDR AP Regional Office, ISDR Asia Partnership, ADPC, 2010), representing the
regional focus on DRR which are: (1) Accelerating HFA implementation through National
Action Plans; (2) Decentralized DRR: Empowerment of Local Government and Civil Society in
DRR; (3) Mobilizing Resources and Promoting Public Private Partnership for DRR; (4) Linking
Climate Change Adaptation to DRR; (5) Protecting Critical Infrastructure which are Educational
system and infrastructures (school safety), and health facilities; (6) Public Education, Awareness
and Engaging the Media in DRR; (7) High Technology and Scientific Application (HTSA) for
DRR; (8) Disaster and Climate Proofing the Millennium Development Goals. The HIRAP
became the reference for Asia and Pacific countries to develop their DRR Action Plans.
It can be observed, that the year of 2005 become a milestone of the growth of DRR effort, due to
major disasters which struck the world in the last decade, having the Indian Ocean earthquake
and tsunami as momentum.
Indonesian perspective on DRR
Indonesias Government perspective for Disaster Risk Reduction is based on the National 1945
Constitutions which states that every person shall be entitled for self protection, property, and
shall be entitled to security and protection against any threat of fear for doing something,
including the threat of fear from natural and man-made disasters. The necessity of plan for
disaster risk reduction is obvious as mandated by the national constitutions, also being aware of
5|Page

the geographic, geological, hydrological and demographic condition of the country which leads
to the countrys disaster vulnerability.
The DRR approach requires redefining the role of government disaster reduction. It is generally
agreed that national governments should be main actors in DRR: they have a duty to ensure the
safety of citizens, the resources and capacity to implement large-scale DRR, a mandate to direct
or co-ordinate the work of others, and they create the necessary policy and legislative
frameworks (Law No 24/2007 Disaster Management, 2007)
At the national level, Law Number 24/2007 on Disaster Management acts as the basis for
Disaster Risk Reduction, which implementation was formulated in as follow up to Hyogo
Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA 2005-2015) particularly on the elaboration of HFA five
priority groups. The implementation is formulated in the National Action Plan of Disaster Risk
Reduction (NAP-DRR), which interlink can be seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Position of NAP-DRR against HFA and Indonesian Law 24/2007 (Bappenas, 2010)
The NAP-DRR document articulates the interests and responsibilities of all related parties in the
dissemination and implementation of disaster risk reduction measures at the national level
resulting from a process involving coordination, consultation and participation in line with the
global agreement (Hyogo Framework of Action) on disaster risk reduction for 2005-2015
(Bappenas, 2010)
According to the current perspective, disaster risk reduction is a cross sector and cross region
integrated plan, covering environmentally and socioeconomically aspects. In its implementation,
the disaster national risk reduction activities must be aligned with the international and regional
focuses, where the community is the subject, object and the main target of all efforts. All efforts
6|Page

shall also consider and adopt local wisdom and traditional knowledge within the society.
Community as a subject are expected to proactively access formal and informal information
stream regarding disaster risk reduction, while the government is mandated to provide
infrastructures and resources for the activities (Lakhar Bakornas PB, 2007).
It is also expected that local resources (including but not limited to financial resources, natural
resources, skills and socioeconomic process within the society) shall be used for the efforts to
reduce disaster risk, so that local capacity can be build. Therefore there are three points
highlighted on the shifting paradigm of disaster response to the national perspective on disaster
risk reduction (Law No 24/2007 Disaster Management, 2007):
-

Disaster management will focus on the whole process of risk management rather than the
emergency aspect only, which was the case in the past
Civil protection from the government against the treat of disaster is not only the action to
perform the governments obligation, but to fulfilling citizens basic human rights.
Government still holds the ultimate accountability for Disaster Management, but the
implementation is the responsibility of all societys elements (government, citizen, public
and private sector).

So, based on that perspective, the Government shall be responsible for disaster risk reduction and
integrating disaster risk reduction and the development programs implemented. The Law has
shifted the paradigm in disaster management from centralistic and sectoral approaches focusing
more on responsive efforts, towards the joint responsibility of all stakeholders decentralized at all
levels in a multi-sectoral approach with focus on disaster risk reduction (Law No 24/2007
Disaster Management, 2007). The main focus should be on disaster risk reduction integration
into the subsequent national five-year development priorities, by including disaster risk reduction
as one of the policy aspects to achieve development goals (Bappenas, 2010).
Government of Indonesia approaches toward DRR
DRR Indonesia is part of the international DRR thus the national plan for disaster refers to the
Hyogo Action framework as explained in Figure 1. The principle of DRR realized by Indonesian
government is that DRR is not is merely a governments effort, but it is a collective
responsibility between government as the country administrator and communities. Why should
other stakeholders be involved in DRR? Indonesia has more than enough shares of disasters
which enable to prove that role of community / non-government sector is also very significant
(UNDP Indonesia and BNPB, 2012).
When tsunami hit Aceh, community and foreign aids played important role during the
emergency response, reconstruction and rehabilitation phase. In December 2004, Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla had just been elected to become president and vice
president with a relatively poor financial condition. Indonesias debt burden was the cause of the
government disability to bear the tsunami loss and damage which reached USD 4-5 billions
(USD 6 billion after adjusted to the inflation rate). Therefore, community and foreign aids
became major part following the tsunami disaster in Aceh(BRR, 2006).
Other example, from (BRR, 2006) and (UNDP Indonesia and BNPB, 2012) we can learn that the
establishment of disaster management law (Law No 24/Year 2007) was initiated by civil society
organizations. One of them was Masyarakat Penanggulangan Bencana Indonesia/MPBI
7|Page

(Indonesian Society for Disaster Management) who conducted series of activities, including
advocacy, lobbying, public hearing, parliament consultation as well as taking parliament
members to disaster affected area in order to convince them the importance of disaster
management law.
The multi-level, multi-sectored and multi-dimensional approach in DRR is a necessity since each
party involved in disaster management has its own interest and priority issues to be carried on.
For example, during a disaster strike, the Ministry of Health and health-related NGOs will focus
on health issues meanwhile the Ministry of Public Works will deal with clean water and shelter
provision. Other NGO and parties will prioritize community economic empowerment after
disasters. Any interest and focus needs to be harmonized to satisfy different needs. Referring
HFA and ISDR focuses, the Indonesian approaches to DRR are conducted in various levels
involving disaster management stakeholders such as government agencies, local and
international NGOs, community, academic institutions, as well as the private sector (Sutanta,
Rajabifard, & Bishop, 2009; BNPB, 2010; UNDP Indonesia and BNPB, 2012).
In line with the reformation of disaster management from previous focus on emergency response
to recent preventive paradigm, in 2005 the Indonesian government through the Ministry of Home
Affairs, Bappenas (State Ministry for National Development Planning) and Bakornas PB (former
organization of National Agency for Disaster Management) with the support of UNDP Indonesia
developed one project "Safer Communities through Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) with
specific aims to make DRR as a development issue for the first time in Indonesia. The Strategic
approaches taken are the legal and institutional strengthening including integrating DRR into
development planning, creating institution partnerships, establishing a crisis management
system, creating a knowledge sharing systems and networks and integrating DRR into school
curriculum. Moreover, as there was a change in the Indonesian governmental system from
centralized to decentralized system, it has to also ensure that there is capacity building at national
and local level to ensure effective integration of DRR into development planning of all
Indonesian regions (BNPB, 2010; UNDP Indonesia and BNPB, 2012)
Since 2005, Indonesia has achieved significant progress related to legal and institutional
strengthening approach. As the collaboration result of NGOs, civil society organizations,
university forum and support international organization, Law No. 24/2007 on Disaster
Management in Indonesia was established. This law is the first national level regulation that
specifically regulates disaster management in Indonesia. As mandates by law system in
Indonesia, the implementation of national law must begin with a more operational regulatio in
order to ensure effective implementation. Therefore, some regulations regarding the
implementation of the disaster management in Indonesia were formulated. Some of the
regulations include Government Regulation No. 21/2008 on the Organization of Disaster
Management; Government Regulation No. 22/2008 on Funding and Management of Disaster
Aid, and Government Regulation No. 23/2008 on Participation of International Organization and
Non Governmental Organization in Disaster Management (Ministry of State Secretary, 2007).
At sub-national level, some provincial as well as district/municipality regulations related to
disaster management had also been established, particularly in areas where severe disasters had
already struck. Some examples of these sub-national level regulations are West Sumatra
Province Regulation No. 5/2007, East Java Province Regulation No. 3/2010 and Bantul District
8|Page

Regulation No. 5/2010. These laws will regulate disaster management conducted in respective
areas (West Sumatera Provincial Government, 2008; Bantul District Government, 2010; East
Java Provincial Government, 2012).
Related to institutional strengthening, as one of the implementation of Law No. 24/2007, the
President of Indonesia issued Presidential Regulation No. 8/2008 on Badan Penanggulangan
Bencana Nasional/BNPB (the National Agency for Disaster Management). As stated in the
regulation, this agency is under the coordination of the Coordinating Minister for People Welfare
and reports directly to President of the Republic of Indonesia. BNPB, a reform of Bakornas PB,
differs from the previous one in terms of the responsibility toward more holistic disaster
management in Indonesia. This agency will be responsible in conducting disaster prevention,
emergency response, rehabilitation, and reconstruction including DRR. In line with the
decentralization system and to ensure sub-national level disaster management implementation,
provincial as well as district/ municipality disaster management agencies were established. To
integrate DRR into development planning, for the period of 2010-2014, the Government of
Indonesia include disaster management as one of priorities in National Medium Term
Development Plan. This is a significant indicator on government's commitment to DRR.
Therefore, a national disaster management plan in Indonesia has been formulated to guide the
implementation of DRR and disaster management in Indonesia (BNPB, 2010).
Partnership with other institutions is also one of the crucial strategic approaches to DRR. For
Indonesia, the academic institutions have an important role in the formulation of national disaster
management platform. Related DRR, there was an initiative to establish a Forum Perguruan
Tinggi (University Forum), which consisted of interdisciplinary experts related to Disaster
Management. More than 20 universities or university-based research centers join the forum. The
other party involved in Indonesia DRR is civil society organizations and NGOs. NGOs play
important part in various areas from advocacy, technical assistance to development of
community empowerment programs related to DRR. This part will be will be described in detail
in the section best practices of DRR. Civil society organizations emerged in various form from
Masyarakat Penanggulangan Bencana Indonesia (Indonesian Society for Disaster Management)
which focus on advocacy, scientific discussion and trainings to Komunitas Siaga Bencana/
Tasgana (Disaster Alert Community) which is a community based movement toward disaster
management (Panagati, 2011; MPBI, 2012; UNDP Indonesia and BNPB, 2012)
Practices of DRR in Indonesia
DRR has been practiced in Indonesia in by the central government, local government,
community, local and international NGOs, the private sector, and other institutions. Below are
some practices of DRR in Indonesia arranged in some highlight themes:
1. DRR through children involvement and education
- School based Disaster Risk Management (SBDRM) has been practiced by an International
NGO named WorldVision International in the Kurima Village, Papua (Wahana Visi
Indonesia, 2008). This program is based on the Priority Action #3 HFA (using education to
build a safety culture and resilience at all levels). The concept is by believing that children
are the agents of change. The purpose of the SBDRM is to increase childrens knowledge of
how to respond to disasters, also increase teachers, schools staff and students knowledge in
9|Page

Disaster Management so that can act appropriately during disaster. Children are taught on
how to identify hazard in school area, how to perform simple school mapping so that they
have the knowledge on spatial analysis, how to perform first aid to victims and also disaster
simulation including the first response required by each of them to survive. Some best
practices/advantages of the practice of SBDRM are collaboration with local institutions
related with disaster (i.e. SAR and Red Cross), thus give the opportunity of improving
coordination between those involved institutions.
Another DRR practice is mainstreaming disaster education in primary school (ACT, 2011).
This practice is undertaken by an International NGO with its implementing member of one
National level NGO and its local partners (7 local NGOs) in Nias, Yogyakarta and Central
Java. It is based on the Priority Action #1 HFA (building strong institutional basis for
implementation). This practice covers school staff, teachers and students (total more than
4560 people) from 36 primary schools in five sub-districts in Nias Island, Yogyakarta and
Central Java. The main concept is capacity building, in which teachers and staff were taught
and trained to facilitate disaster education at school and to develop a syllabus in which
disaster education will be integrated. The outcome is that the education of disaster has been
incorporated formally in the participating elementary school curriculum and teaching plan in
Nias, Yogyakarta and Central Java.

2. DRR practice in Flood Area

- A local NGO (YAKKUM) has been facilitating the process of disaster risk reduction in the
Padas Village, which is located around 1,5 km from Bengawan Solo riverbank, the longest
river in Java (ACT, 2011). The communitys livelihood of the area has been badly affected
on flood which occurs annually (2007, 2008, 2009), due to the recent unpredictable season,
thus has brought difficulties to the farmers to grow their crop. The local NGO facilitated
participatory mapping on hazards, vulnerability and capacity where the community benefits,
because after the participatory effort the solution to increase resilience of community can be
discussed. Because none of the community wants to relocate, the community decided to
prepare themselves facing the forthcoming disaster by providing enough food and
alternative livelihoods if the disaster strikes. The community together with local NGO
decided to establish a cooperative unit for credit union and farmer group, which capital came
from its members saving. The cooperative unit is an alternative that when harvest failed they
would be able to borrow some cash with low interest to buy more seeds. After the local
NGO phased out in 2008, the board sent its members to a financial management training to
improve their management skill. In 2011, the capital and the member of the cooperation unit
have increased.
- Another practice was undertaken by local NGO named YTBI in Jakarta (ACT, 2011) which
is the School Based Disaster Management approach. Targeting schools (teachers and
students) in Bogor (Ciliwung river upstream) and Jakarta (Ciliwung river downstream), to
reduce the risk flood, the local NGO established a communication network disaster
management which activities are training on disaster preparedness, vulnerability and
capacity assessment; formation of preparedness team, health and evacuation; making
evacuation map; introducing early warning system in schools; first aid training and
simulation of evacuation; training for the teachers and school committee members; advocacy
on SBDRR in the context of Jakarta province through exhibition, drawing and creative
writing; building DRR school based networking and information through Bogor Jakarta
10 | P a g e

communications networking of school children. This communication network system is

mobilized by students of one elementary school in Jakarta and another elementary school in
Bogor, both are at the Ciliwung riverside. When the water level in Bogor reached 150
200cm, students in Bogor then will inform the people in charge at the Katulampas water
gate and the coordinator team in Jakarta through phone or SMS so that school community
who are living nearby Ciliwung River in Jakarta can be prepared for the flood. An assigned
team in Jakarta school will disseminate the information to another school nearby. This
system has increased the awareness level and capacity of the involved students.
3. DRR practice in Drought Area
Gunung Kidul District is located in Java Island, and is famous for its limestone landscape. In
the past, during the regular dry season there will be a period of drought. Now it is worsened
since people could not predict climate and weather change anymore; the dry season is longer
than rainy season. A local NGO provided manual pump and built access to help community
access the water. Also it worked together local government to improve communitys skill
and behavior of water saving. The local NGO, funded by an International NGO, take an
effort to help community to adapt the impact of climate change by harvesting water during
rainy season for their daily needs. Rainwater reservoirs were constructed, involving the
Community Based Organization (CBO). Hazards and risk mapping was conducted using
participatory vulnerability capacity analysis (PVCA) involving all components of
community to obtain data of past and upcoming hazards and its effects, and the needs of
community to cope with the hazards. The project emphasized on community based approach
and community participation. By using this approach, community became part of the project
and 12,000 people are benefiting from the reservoir (ACT, 2011).
4. DRR practice in Papua: Tsunami and Earthquake Area
The province of West Papua is an earthquake and tsunami prone area, mostly because its
geographical location, as it is located in the intersection of three tectonic plates. It is also
among the poorest province in Indonesia, which makes their live and livelihood more
vulnerable. The majority populations houses are neither flood resistant nor earthquakeproof. The village population also lack of knowledge on how to mitigate disaster which is
common in rural areas in Indonesia. A National level NGO worked together with a local
NGO performed assessment in the province in 2009 and found that the Provincial Agency
for Disaster Management was still in the set-up phase, therefore it was not fully functioned,
and furthermore some roles and responsibilities regarding disaster management within the
provincial government office remain unclear. There was also no disaster management
committee in any community which should cover the local disaster management. So the
National level and local NGO worked together facilitating disaster risk reduction activities
such as conducting Train-the-trainer program (capacity building) for hazards, risk, and
resources mapping followed with a workshop in each respective area, where the workshop
result was used to develop a disaster plan, which then was communicated to relevant
stakeholders for their commitment and support mobilization. The same community based
disaster plan and process were then aligned with a community based network to reach higher
level of policy making level process through advocacy of communitys concerns. Those
villages then were able to establish their Village Disaster Management Committee (VDMC)
who is responsible to continue and implement village disaster plan, also linking to
11 | P a g e

government for further networking, monitoring and coordination. Another results are such
as: a baseline survey has been performed primarily focused on the collection of data and
facts of potential disasters in West Papua Province, each community was able to set up their
emergency plan and risk map, evacuation routes in the villages were set up, joint simulations
were performed emphasizing the role of VDMC during disaster, 90% of the household were
informed about the emergency plans in case of a disaster, one earthquake alert system has
been installed (ACT, 2011).
5. DRR practice in a Landslide prone area
Blawong Wetan kampong is located 550 780 meters above sea level in Temanggung
district, Central Java Province which has a long history of landslides in the past 48 years. It
is a hilly area mainly consists of steep hills of sandy clay sediments which land is not stable.
Small to large scale land movement threaten the safety of local inhabitants because of the
high intensity of rainfall and rapid development of human settlements and their activities.
An International and local NGO performed a focus group discussion and found that the
community knows about the landslide hazard, and that they have identified many spots of
potential for landslides. During the FGD, is was also discovered that the community has
made some mitigations such as planting trees to lower the risk of landslide, building water
duct and put sand sacks on the embankment, set up evacuation route to a safer place in a
neighbor kampong, and so on. However, based on the communitys discussion, the
community thinks that the most logical thing is to relocate the Blawong Wetan village
(which become a big debate) because the level of landslide risk cannot be lowered with
mitigation efforts such as plantation, reinforcing embankment using sand sacks and
reinforcing the water drainage, also through preparedness efforts such as building evacuation
plan and exercised it. Then the NGO facilitated several sessions of trainings to increase
community awareness and knowledge regarding hazards, risks and resources mapping. Also
they facilitate expert review (researcher from Geological Graduate School) regarding the
village condition, which supports the communitys view. So the NGOs effort in DRR
resulted in some achievement such as raised awareness of village community, facilitated the
community to be able to take a decision for themselves based on valid information such as
hazard mapping, identified risk, also available financial resource which was affirmed and
approved by the district head as the result of advocacy process (ACT, 2011).
Challenges and Opportunities
Despite of the big effort of the multi stakeholder in Indonesia for reducing the risk of disaster,
there are some challenges and opportunities. From the above example of DRR practices related
with common hazards in the country, some common challenges and opportunities are:
- Engagement with government during each of the program is crucial. Not all activities
were initiated by the government, however involving government very important because
government has the ultimate accountability for DRR implementation and providing
resources thus will provide better coordination if real disaster strikes. For example are the
DRR practices related with education. The District Education Office is the authority who
can ensure the DRR implementation process and its sustainability, also the office can
promote the good practice to another schools..
- Government bureaucracy sometimes becomes a hindrance to build coordination, because
of the ineffectiveness of communication in terms of time and cost.
12 | P a g e

Some part of the community in the rural area still have the belief that a disaster is
punishment by God, therefore it is difficult to involve them in DRR
Even though the central government required every district to develop and implement a
District Disaster Management Plan; there are lack of local capacity and resources
(financial, technical assistance) in the district(Wahana Visi Indonesia, 2008) level.
For developing a community based approach DRR, the will and capacity of the
community, as well as appropriate support of facilitation is equally important. It is
sometimes difficult to approach the community who do not have willingness to be
involved in DRR.
Learning and knowledge sharing, including replicating some community initiatives and
adaptation effort success stories to other areas can increase the effectiveness countrys
DRR effort in a whole.

Conclusion
The evolution of DRR in Indonesia shall be associated with the governments awareness of their
obligation to fulfill their responsibility to the community, the urge from the international world,
and the situation of the country which is geographically located in a disaster prone region. The
Hyogo Framework of Acton (HFA) plays an important role in the establishment of Law 27/2007
on Disaster Management and the National Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction (NAP-DRR), which
become the legal basis for the implementation of DRR in Indonesia.
Based on the countrys perspective on DRR, the government still holds the ultimate
accountability for Disaster Management, but the implementation is the responsibility of all
societys elements (government, citizen, public and private sector), so that the Community Based
Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) concept takes place as an important concept where local
resources (including but not limited to financial resources, natural resources, skills and
socioeconomic process within the society) shall be used for the efforts to reduce disaster risk, so
to increase local participation, their ownership, and the effectiveness of the DRR practice.
From year to year, more efforts have been done by multi stakeholders to reduce disaster risk by
applying DRR principles through mitigation efforts as well as through capacity building and
reducing communitys vulnerability. Those efforts where mainly done by national and local
NGOs, supported by international organizations funding. While the government plays a crucial
role of legal and institutional strengthening through policy making and empowerment of disaster
related institutions. The National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) as the responsible
government agency plays the role to ensure DRR implementation in the sub-national level
(district and provinces) in Indonesia together with the Provincial and District Disaster
Management Agency (BPBD).
There are a lot of challenges and opportunity in the implementation of DRR in Indonesia. The
more cases observed, the more challenges will be encountered. This is because DRR
implementation is unique in every community; refer to the hazard at that particular area, the
geographical condition, the societys behavior and their vulnerabilities. It is not relevant to
generalize the problems for all locations. However, it can be concluded that the key success
factor of DRR practice in Indonesia depends on three factors, which are the community based
approach, the will and capacity of community, and appropriate support or facilitation. If one of
those issues was missing, it will be very challenging to develop sustainable programs in the
13 | P a g e

community (ACT, 2011). The coordination with local government is also crucial, because the
government has the ultimate accountability for DRR implementation and providing resources
thus will provide better coordination with the other stakeholders. However, in every challenge
there is an opportunity to improve.

References
Bantul District Government. (2010). Bantul District Government Regulation 05/2010. Yogyakarta,
Indonesia: Bantul District Government.
ACT. (2011). Disaster Risk Reduction Good Practices. Jakarta: ACT Indonesia Forum.
ADPC. (2005). A Primer: Disaster Risk Management in Asia. Bangkok: ADPC - Asian Disaster
Preparedness Center.
ADRC. (2011). ADRC Natural Disaster Databook 2011. Kobe: Asian Disaster Reduction Center
(ADRC).
Bappenas. (2006). National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction 2006 - 2009. Jakarta: Bappenas
(State Ministry for National Development Planning).
Bappenas. (2010). National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction 2010-2012. Jakarta: Bappenas (State
Ministry for National Development Planning).
BNPB. (2010). National Disaster Management Plan 2010 - 2014. Jakarta: BNPB.
BNPB. (2012). Retrieved November 2012, from BNPB Web site: http://bnpb.go.id/website/asp/index.asp
BPS. (2012). Retrieved November 2012, from Badan Pusat Statistic Web site:
http://www.bps.go.id/tab_sub/view.php?kat=1&tabel=1&daftar=1&id_subyek=12&notab=1
BRR. (2006). Membangun Tanah Harapan : Laporan Tahunaan I Badan Rekonstruksi dan Rehabilitasi
Aceh dan Nias Tahun 2006. Jakarta: BRR.
DIBI BNPB. (2012). Retrieved November 2012, from DIBI BNPB Web site:
http://dibi.bnpb.go.id/DesInventar/dashboard.jsp?countrycode=id&continue=y&lang=ID
DRR Project Portal for Asia and the Pacific. (2012). Retrieved November 2012, from DRR Project:
http://www.drrprojects.net/drrp/drrpp/home
East Java Provincial Government. (2012). Jatimprov. Retrieved November 2012, from Jatimprov Web
site: http://www.jatimprov.go.id/site/produk-hukum/
ISDR AP Regional Office, ISDR Asia Partnership, ADPC. (2010). Advancing Implementation of the
Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) in Asia and Pacific 2009 - 2015. Kuala Lumpur: ISDR.
Lakhar Bakornas PB. (2007). Pengenalan Karakteristik Bencana dan Upaya Mitigasinya di Indonesia
(Introduction to Disaster Characteristic and Mitigation in Indonesia). Jakarta: Direktorat
Mitigasi Lakhar Bakornas PB.
Law No 24/2007 Disaster Management. (2007). Undang-undang No 24 Tahun 2007 Tentang
Penanggulangan Bencana. Indonesia.
Ministry of Environment. (2007). Indonesia Country Report: Climate Variability and Climate Changes,
and Their Implication. Jakarta: Ministry of Environment.
Ministry of State Secretary. (2007). Sekretariat Negara Repbulik Indonesia. Retrieved November 2012,
from Setneg Web site: http://www.setneg.go.id/index.php?option=com_perundangan&Itemid=42
MPBI. (2012). Masyarakat Penanggulangan Bencana Indonesia (MPBI). Retrieved November 2012,
from MPBI Web site: http://www.mpbi.org/content/tentang-kami
Panagati, F. (2011, December). Suara Komunitas. Retrieved from Suara Komunitas Web site:
http://suarakomunitas.net/baca/19234/tasgana-adakan-simulasi-penanggulangan-bencana.html
14 | P a g e

PreventionWeb. (2012). Retrieved November 2012, from PreventionWeb Web site:

http://www.preventionweb.net/english/countries/statistics/index.php?cid=80
Sutanta, H., Rajabifard, A., & Bishop, I. D. (2009). An Integrated Approach for Disaster Risk Reduction
Using. Proceedings of the Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute Biennial International
Conference (pp. 342-351). Adelaide: Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute.
UNDP Indonesia and BNPB. (2012). Lessons Learned : Indonesias Partnership for Disaster Risk
Reduction. The National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and the University Forum. Jakarta:
UNDP Indonesia.
UNISDR. (2005). Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015. Geneva: United Nations.
UNISDR. (2009). UNISDR Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction. Geneva: United Nations
International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
USGS. (2012). Retrieved December 2012, from US Geological Survey Web site:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/indonesia/seismotectonics.php
Wahana Visi Indonesia. (2008). School Based Disaster Management. Kurima, Papua New Guinea,
Indonesia: Wahana Visi Indonesia.
West Sumatera Provincial Government. (2008). Sumbarprov. Retrieved Nov 2012, from Sumbarprov
Web site: http://www.sumbarprov.go.id/list.php?submenuid=perda
Wikipedia. (2012, October 16). Wikipedia. Retrieved November 2012, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_risk_reduction

15 | P a g e