- Authors: Balawyn Jones
- From: University of Queensland
Abstract:
This paper examines the effectiveness of risk communication on the uptake of tsunami preparedness measures, in particular vertical pedestrian evacuation, in Aceh, Indonesia. This paper aims to identify and understand the barriers to risk communication by conducting a survey of disaster risk reduction (?DRR?) providers in Aceh and applying risk communication best practice criteria to guide the analysis of results. The survey results found that DRR practice sometimes departs from theoretical best practice. Namely, best practice promotes engagement with religious principles and institutions to increase community preparedness. However, in practice, DRR providers generally do not consider religious context as a relevant factor in designing risk communication strategies. Further, the local culture of gotong royong was highlighted as a key influence on programs by DRR providers, but is relatively unmapped in the literature. One inference that can be drawn is that a failure to engage with the predominant religious and cultural beliefs and structures potentially results in a perceived lack of credibility of DRR messages. The effectiveness of risk communication at increasing community understanding of and trust in vertical pedestrian evacuation procedures may be improved by integrating religious perspectives and institutions into DRR programs. For example through the transformation of secular tsunami evacuation buildings into places of worship, so that evacuation buildings will be better utilised in the event of a tsunami. This study contributes knowledge on the role of religion and culture in risk communication, in order to increase community disaster preparedness and social resilience.
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