Analysis of Padang City community preparedness to face the earthquake and tsunami disaster

Department of Civil Engineering, Andalas University, Padang, Indonesia.

^* Corresponding author: junaidi@eng.unand.ac.id

Abstract

Padang, West Sumatra is located in the collision area of two tectonic plates, namely Indo-Australia and Eurasia. Which is marked by the presence of a tectonic earthquake center in the Mentawai islands and surroundings. Realising the high risk of disasters, the people of Padang city must be ready and prepared for the possibility of an earthquake and tsunami. To reduce the risk of disaster, the use of “self-help” and “mutual-help” parameter might be the best way to help the people to know “what should they do?” and “how can they do it?” to protect themselves from disasters. This research aims to analyse the Padang city community’s preparedness to face the Earthquake and Tsunami disaster by using “self-help” and “mutual-help” parameters. A questionnaire consisting of 20 questions was used to collect the data. The sample size of this research is 400. The data was collected from 4 different areas (Random area, Pondok area, Purus area, and Ulak Karang area). The study found that the Padang city community might not be prepared to face the earthquake and tsunami disaster in the future in terms of self-help and mutual help as most of the items mentioned in the questionnaire have not been applied. The government is urged to develop appropriate policies regarding further disaster risk reduction