LocationsInclusive Micro Risk Assessment: The power of disaggregated data to reduce inequality towards resilient futures
October 16, 2023
Enumerator shared the survey result to women living in Serangan village, Bali
By Haryanti Sunarta
The International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) on 13 October this year focuses on the call of action to break the cycle of disasters and inequality. We would like to share our experience on the power of disaggregated risk data to identify the most vulnerable population and unlock the potential solutions to break the cycle of inequality caused by disasters.
In Indonesia, according to statistics by National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB), there was a two to threefold increase in natural disasters in the last five years compared to data in the previous quinquennial term. In addition, since the beginning of 2023, there have been approximately 2,714 disaster reports. The data revealed that the majority of the disasters are climate-induced, such as the on-going El Niño phenomenon triggering severe drought in various regions across the country. This slow-onset crisis has claimed the lives of six people from famine and is threatening the well-being and food security of about 7,500 people in Papua Tengah. Yet, inequality to development access, be it social or geographic, limits the capacity of the affected population to cope with the crisis. If not responded to appropriately, the disaster event may create new or exacerbate the preexisting inequality and deepen the poverty of the marginalized population. Amidst the crisis, the unavailability of disaggregated data was a huge challenge to deliver effective, efficient, and impactful response and recovery.
In order to break the cycle of disaster, we need to better understand the connection between disaster and inequality. Thus, the IDDRR 2023 urges actors to invest more in collecting and using disaggregated data by gender, age group, disabilities, socio-economic status, etc. It aims to understand disproportionate disaster impacts and exposure and to inform resilience building policies. Conforming with the call, the Government of Indonesia has launched Satu Data Bencana Indonesia/SDBI or Indonesian One Disaster Data in 2020. The purpose of the statistic framework is to provide a basis for analysis of cross-event trends to improve the quality of risk assessment. SDBI covers data and information on the country’s disaster risk, historic disaster events, and disaster impacts on lives, damages, and loss. At the operational level, the Government of Indonesia, through the BNPB, has established and digitalized the Disaster Information Management System (DIMS) to supply reliable and updated disaster data for more effective development planning and resilience building. Among others are Indonesian Disaster Data and Information (DIBI), and inaRISK, the country’s digital disaster risk information platform.
Instant visualization of survey result at inaRISK Personal application
UNDP supported the effort of the Government of Indonesia in establishing and improving its DIMS to be more inclusive. The Government had established risk assessment methodology to collect risk data and provide analysis of disaster risk in the country, applicable to the national and district level. Through the DX4Resilience project, UNDP, in collaboration with BNPB, developed Micro Risk Assessment, which modified the existing national model to generate data and assess risk at the household level. Local community members were trained to utilize the inaRISK data collection application, which processed the input data to conduct rapid analysis and produce visualization of the risk assessment results. In this sense, the assessment process can also build the local capacity to understand and assess existing risks in their neighborhood.
Enumerator shared the survey result to women living in Serangan village, Bali
Another feature offered by the model is the disaggregation of risk data by gender, age group, disabilities, education level, and income. The availability of such data at the micro level is very handy for identifying inequality during the development phase and developing measures to reduce vulnerability to upcoming disasters. Furthermore, the availability of reliable data on the location and the number of persons with disabilities, elders, children will ensure that the vulnerable groups are prioritized during the response and recovery planning, preventing the creation of new or exacerbation of existing inequality.
Ms Ketut conducted household survey in Serangan
Thanks to the project, the village now has disaster risk information consisting of local hazard, vulnerabilities, and capacities that are disaggregated to address the most vulnerable groups. It also empowered the locals by enabling their involvement through accessible technology. “Apparently, the tool is very handy and simple!”, said Ms. Ketut Sisca Dewi, a housewife residing in Serangan village, Bali as one of the pilot areas, who now understands the disaster risk in her environment and the level of preparedness of her community and has successfully conducted the assessment as an enumerator. “The villagers are very curious about the result of the assessment. After finishing my survey, I will share the result with them so they will know the risk they are facing in their environment,” said Mr Asep Nuryadi, another enumerator in Serangan village, commenting on the level of engagement of the locals. Inclusive and data-driven adaptive measures to resilience building are key to leave no one behind in our progress for a better future.