Disaster risk reduction education in Indonesia: challenges and recommendations for scaling up

Abstract

Abstract. This article investigates the implementation of disaster risk reduction education for children in Indonesia. In the last decade, education programmes related to this subject have been promoted as capable of reducing disaster losses and increasing resilience, based on several studies that have identified positive outcomes. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate and address any potential challenges that might impede their success. The article uses a case study in Jakarta, a rapidly growing megacity that is highly prone to disasters and natural hazards, especially floods and fires, to explore the scaling up and sustainability of disaster risk reduction in Indonesian schools. Based on previous studies, a new approach was developed for evaluating the implementation of education programmes related to these subjects. This study captured the perspectives of children, school personnel, and non-governmental organisations on the challenges of scaling up the implementation of disaster risk reduction education in schools. The study revealed seven key issues and suggests several policy recommendations to move forward. These key issues may also be apparent in many other developing and developed countries, and the suggested recommendations may well be applicable beyond Indonesia.

Knowledge of children and youth about forest fires: Discrepancies between basic perception and reality

“…The main findings here that perception of hazard-related knowledge does not equate to actual knowledge replicate recent research in Indonesia (Amri et al, 2017) done in an older age cohort in a different country. Here, a very large percentage, nearly 100%, perceived they knew what a forest fire was.…”

“…However, the recent large-scale qualitative study (Towers, 2015) that included 26 focus groups with 87 8-12 year-old children and collateral interviews with 37 parents has demonstrated that children are quite capable of engaging in serious discussions about wildfires. 1 At the same time, small research on wildfire education in school settings has been conducted. The research has demonstrated that schools can play a crucial role in household and local community readiness towards a possible hazardous situation (Ronan et al, 2016;Shaw, Shiwaku, & Takeuchi, 2011).In other words, schools are not only agents for education of children and youth, they can help with "actionable knowledge" transfer to other members of household (Calik, 2013;Ronan et al, 2016) and community (Shaw et al, 2011).…”

“…The research demonstrates that even in the face of nationally rolled out "ready to go" programs and resources in hazard education, teachers will report not feeling confident about teaching such programs or resources (e.g., fear of scaring children and youth) (Johnson, Ronan, Johnston, & Peace, 2014). 1 In the Australian context, where this research was conducted, fires in the wild are referred to as bushfires.…”

A Critical Analysis of Dramatization on Evacuation Drill

“…The role of education for promoting DRR awareness is articulated in the Yokohama Strategy, Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005 -2015, and the current commitment, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 -2030 [3]. Since then, there is a wide array of programs internationally to implement disaster preparedness programs in schools [4]. Effective and efficient disaster preparedness education includes accuracy in decision making supported by theoretical knowledge and organizational skills [5].…”

“…However, many so-called DRR programs focus on response-preparedness and ignore primary risk reduction [4]. As a result, programs that focus on what to do "in case of disasters" betray a reactive and fatalistic orientation, leading school communities to conclude that they are helpless when it comes to protecting themselves from risk physically [6].…”