Strengthening Community-Based Disaster Preparedness: Strategies, Barriers, and Policy Implications

Abstract

Community-based disaster preparedness (CBDP) has gained global recognition as a critical strategy for reducing disaster risk and enhancing community resilience. This review aims to synthesize current knowledge on the effectiveness, challenges, and enabling factors of CBDP across diverse geographical and socio-economic settings. A structured narrative review methodology was adopted, with literature sourced from Scopus and Google Scholar using targeted keywords. Inclusion criteria focused on peer-reviewed studies published within the last ten years that addressed community engagement in disaster risk reduction. The review reveals that CBDP strengthens disaster response through participatory planning, community-driven early warning systems, and institutional partnerships with NGOs, religious bodies, and local governments. Community participation enhances responsiveness and legitimacy of interventions, especially when grounded in local knowledge and cultural context. However, systemic barriers such as poverty, low education levels, and inadequate infrastructure significantly limit community capacity. Policy misalignments further hinder program effectiveness, highlighting the need for responsive, inclusive, and decentralized governance. Key recommendations include formalizing community involvement in policy, leveraging accessible technologies for communication, and integrating psychosocial resilience into disaster planning. Future research should prioritize comparative, longitudinal, and mixed-methods studies, with emphasis on marginalized populations. This review underscores that sustainable CBDP requires strategic alignment between grassroots action and systemic support to effectively mitigate disaster impacts.