Analyzing the Influence of Demographic Factors on the Level of Community Preparedness for Tsunami Disaster in Bengkulu City

Abstract

Bengkulu is one of the cities in Indonesia that has a high level of vulnerability to tsunamis. This high level of vulnerability will have a huge impact on the tsunami threat.  One of the mitigation efforts that can be taken to minimize the effects of a tsunami disaster is to increase preparedness in facing the disaster. This study aims to analyze the influence of demographic factors on the level of community preparedness in Bengkulu City towards the tsunami disaster through an ordinal logistic approach.  Data collection was carried out by distributing questionnaires to 400 selected respondents who were selected using the stratified random sampling method in nine sub-districts in Bengkulu City. In this study, the level of community preparedness was determined using an index analysis categorized into three levels: not ready, moderate, and ready. Determination of the level of community preparedness considers five key parameters: knowledge and attitudes, family policies, emergency response plans, early warning systems, and resource mobilization. The influence of demographic factors, including age, gender, occupation, education level, and length of stay, on the level of community preparedness was processed with the help of R software using a bivariate test with Spearman’s rank. The results of the study show that age, occupation, and length of stay, with a significance level of 10%, have a significant influence on the level of preparedness of the Bengkulu City community for the tsunami disaster, while gender and education levels do not have a significant influence on the level of preparedness of the Bengkulu City community for the tsunami disaster. The results of this study are expected to provide important information for the Bengkulu City government and related agencies in designing more effective and targeted disaster mitigation programs, as well as increasing community capacity in dealing with the threat of tsunamis.