Disaster Management and Landslide Risk Reduction Strategies in The Gebog Sub-District of Kudus Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Historically, the Kudus Regency in Central Java Province, Indonesia, has been prone to landslides. This study was conducted in the Gebog Sub-District of Kudus Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. The objectives of this study are: (1) to analyze the level of landslide disaster risk in the Gebog Sub-District, (2) to assess the current community-based landslide risk management activities undertaken by the local population in the Gebog Sub-District and (3) to formulate community-based landslide risk reduction management strategies to mitigate landslide risk. Variables for the level of landslide disaster risk include landslide hazards/threats, vulnerability to landslide hazards and community capacity to deal with landslides. Variables related to the management of landslide risk studied encompass pre-disaster, during-disaster and post-disaster activities by the community. Meanwhile, the variables for community-based landslide risk reduction management strategies include threat reduction, vulnerability reduction and enhancing community capacity before, during and after a landslide disaster. The research design is based on field surveys with 99 individuals as research subjects and 33 field units as samples. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews and analysis was conducted using scoring and ranking. The research findings indicate that the current community-based landslide risk management activities are still low. From the research and focus group discussions, new strategies for community-based landslide risk reduction management were identified to reduce landslide risk.