Household disaster management capacities in disaster-prone II area of Mt. Slamet

Disaster-prone II in Mt. Slamet, Indonesia, presents the highest risk for human settlement. To live in this natural disaster-prone area, specific household characteristics are essential. Household capitals (such as physical, social, etc...) and transformation in the process and structure (which consist of land-use management, spiritual practices and cultural beliefs) were supported by a disaster management framework. However, households in the disaster-prone II area had limited assets and were required to identify factors influencing disaster management. To study the factors influencing household disaster management capacities, this research collected data of 538 households spread across five villages in the disaster-prone II area of Mt. Slamet. Sequential mixed methodology combining both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used: samples in the Rukun-Warga-level area were collected by a two-stage stratified random sampling, and systematic random sampling was employed to choose the sample of households. Path analysis through Stata was carried out to analyse the direct and indirect factors supporting disaster management capacity, and multicollinearity was tested before path analysis.

This research found direct and indirect effects of household characteristics and household capitals on disaster management. This could be influenced by the transformation in the process and structure of the local government. The quantitative result has been confirmed by the result of the qualitative methodology. Social capital owned by households in the disaster-prone II area supports disaster management practices. The household relationship and networking access have been strongly supported by disaster management capacities. Disaster management capacities of households in the disaster-prone II area could be improved by both internal and external factors. Internal factors include supporting the household members’ health and increasing the size of land and vehicle owning. Meanwhile, external factors have been applied by the policy published by the government as to improve the social and cultural beliefs of households.