Examining Disaster Risk Reduction in Indonesia

This book offers a critical examination of the global diffusion and local reception of disaster risk reduction (DRR) programs through the lens of Indonesia s unique challenges and successes. Global efforts to strengthen local disaster resilience capacities have become a staple of international development in recent decades. Yet, the successful implementation of DRR projects designed to enhance local resilience remains vague. There are pockets of success in the post-2018 Central Sulawesi Earthquake, but a gap nevertheless remains between global expectations and local realities. Through a critical realist study of global and local worldviews of risk in Indonesia, this book argues that the global advocacy of DRR remains inadequate because of a failure to prioritize person-orientated ethics in its conceptualization of disaster resilience. Much of the research and policies on DRR have used social science methods only to complement the technological improvement approach offered in reducing disaster risk, especially in the Global South. This book invites readers to revisit disaster as a social problem and as a social construct. This book emphasizes the importance of social science disciplines to answer extensive topics on DRR from empirical, theoretical, and philosophical approaches to provide a critical arena and generate dialogue around a people-centered approach to DRR. Vis-à-vis regional comparison, the authors provide a valuable lens to understand the underlying social structures that make resilience possible and unpack the extent to which local governments, communities, and persons interpret and modify their behavior on risk when faced with the global message on understanding a systemic situation. This book is of an essential resource for researchers, professionals, and students in areas of resilience, risk management, development studies, and area studies. It provides fresh perspectives and fosters engaging dialogue on DRR in the Global South.