From Symbol to Substance: Transforming Disaster-Resilient Villages/Sub-Districts Towards Sustainable Resilience

Abstract

While being designated a disaster-resilient village/sub-district is an important achievement in strengthening community capacity, administrative status alone does not necessarily indicate functional resilience when a disaster occurs. This opinion article argues that community resilience needs to be understood as a continuous process built through three interrelated pillars: knowledge, awareness, and concrete action in disaster risk reduction. These three pillars require the support of local government commitment, policies translated into programs and budgets, and inclusive access to basic services. Evidence compiled from the literature and experiences across various contexts suggests that disaster education, skills training, simulations, community participation, and cross-level governance can strengthen preparedness and response capacity. At the same time, investment in basic services such as water, sanitation, health, transportation, and communications determines a community's ability to maintain basic functions and recover quickly after a disaster. In the Indonesian context, the key challenge is not simply the existence of policies or the size of budgets, but the consistency of their translation into measurable actions and outcomes. This article encourages a policy shift from labeling and administrative outputs to measuring resilience outcomes, strengthening the cycle of risk assessment, mitigation, preparedness, emergency response, recovery preparedness, and learning, integrating disaster risk reduction into development, and investing in inclusive basic services. Therefore, resilient villages/sub-districts need to be assessed not only by their resilience documents, but also by the community's ability to act, utilize basic services appropriately and wisely, and learn from risks.