Role of disaster preparedness and climate change mitigation on the assessment of coastal disaster resilience in Brebes

Abstract

Having the second-longest coastline in the world, Indonesia is highly vulnerable to coastal disasters and climate change impact. Kaliwlingi, a coastal village in Brebes, lies on the estuary of Pemali River in the north of Java Island, Indonesia. Disaster preparedness and climate change mitigation are one of the five aspects factored in coastal disaster resilience assessment at the village level. This quantitative research was designed to determine the coastal community resilience in Kaliwlingi by analyzing disaster preparedness and climate change mitigation. The variables were grouped into infrastructure and non-infrastructure. While the former consists of early warning systems and physical infrastructure, the latter includes government responsibility and regulations on disaster preparedness. The questionnaire items were encoded to the Likert scale, and then the data were analyzed to understand how the community perceived the prevailing disaster and climate change preparedness. The results showed that the community had substantial knowledge of emergency food stockpiles and proper recognition on shoreline structures and early warning system but poor comprehension of available shelter, emergency actions by the local government, and disaster preparedness. Based on these indicators, this community was concluded as moderately resilient. Also, gender seemed to be the strongest determinant of resilience index. Relative to the male community members, the female had a broader knowledge of disaster preparedness regulation and access to evacuation routes. Although livelihood significantly shaped the resilience index, formal education attainment appeared to have less influence.