Community perspective in the integration of mental health and psychosocial support and disaster risk reduction: Lesson learned from 20 Disaster-Resilient Villages (Destana) in East Java Province, Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia has to cope with the constant risk of disaster. The island of Java has a lot of active volcanoes with high risk. This island is prone to natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes. A disaster can impact individuals, families, and entire communities. When a disaster occurs, people react in various ways, such as confusion, fear, and anxiety, and will lead to worse mental health conditions. One way to prevent this is to provide mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). Previously, MHPSS only focused on response and recovery activities. However, in the last few decades, there has been a need to include the MHPSS program in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). Indonesian Government has linked the national disaster management policies and laws to the community-based DRR initiative called "Disaster-Resilient Village"(Destana). However, this program mainly focuses on physical and economic-based disaster management. Mental health and psychosocial aspects are not equipped in this program. Therefore, researchers want to address the existing gaps in the MHPSS strategy through the official DRR programs in Indonesia. We use participatory research to learn how the communities view the impact of disaster on mental health and the possible strategy to create MHPSS intervention in the disaster management cycle. They also asked to list sources of support in their local community. The result showed valuable perspective from 20 Destana in East Java Province. We found lessons that can be implemented in the future integration of MHPSS and community-based DRR in Indonesia.