Building a better response towards natural disasters’ resilience: A social protection policy approach

Social protection policy has been become one of the Indonesian government’s main political discourses and policy instruments. However, there is a lack of concern regarding social protection for citizens affected by natural disasters that cause adverse consequences, such as vanished personal property, damaged public service infrastructure, eliminated sources of livelihood, and compromised human well-being caused by disaster-related family separation and trauma. 

This paper proposes an integrated social policy as a response to the adverse socioeconomic effects of natural disasters. In the short run, institutionalized disaster relief safety nets would ease the affected households’ situations. In the medium to long run, redevelopments of infrastructure, rebuilding of institutions, and recovery of human capital should be prioritized. This brief also recommends an integrated social protection policy approach as part of the ex-post/response policy to natural disasters in Indonesia.