Despite global commitments to integrate health into disaster risk reduction (DRR), gaps remain in its implementation at the local level in developing countries. This study examined how health was embedded in local DRR governance during the pandemic in Indonesia, with a focus on Padang City, identifying key gaps and areas for improvement using a concrete case at the local level. A qualitative study was conducted, involving government agencies for COVID-19 response, health sector actors, and community representatives. Data were collected through seven in-depth interviews and five focus group discussions across national, provincial, and city levels. Using content analysis guided by the World Health Organization Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (HEDRM) framework, the findings showed that Indonesia's COVID-19 response was formally integrated across levels of governance. However, unclear leadership structures and weak intersectoral coordination hindered effective local implementation. Limited local capacity, particularly in health workforce, financing, data systems, and infrastructures, resulted in uneven preparedness. Community-based initiatives helped mitigate service delivery gaps during the crisis. The study highlighted the need to strengthen local DRR by institutionalizing the health sector across all disaster phases through clearer governance, coherent regulations, consistent capacity development, and integrated health information systems.

The impact of disasters has increased and intensified due to climate change, and its adverse impacts which have caused many losses and damage among communities worldwide. Studies have confirmed that the main causal factor is the adverse impact on the natural environment and its processes due to anthropogenic activities. Therefore, decision-makers are looking for new measures and approaches where ecosystems and nature-based solutions are recognised as successful and sustainable solutions. However, applications of ecosystems or nature-based solutions seem inadequate, particularly in planning disaster risk reduction at the local level. In this context, this paper aims to examine the policy perspective on green and blue infrastructure as a nature-based solution for better preparedness in disaster risk reduction. The study is based on a detailed literature review, combining a policy review supported by a review of academic papers. The results confirmed that international policies and frameworks recognised the importance of ecosystems or nature-based solutions as a best practice for disaster risk reduction where green and blue infrastructure can be successfully integrated. In conclusion, translating the ideas of nature-based solutions from international policies and frameworks into local and national level planning will strengthen community resilience through better preparedness.

Sri Lanka is in the south eastern part of Indian plate closer to Australian plate and surrounded by Eurasian plate, Australian plate, African plate and Arabian plate. Except, plate boundaries between Indian plate and Eurasian plate, all the other three plate boundaries around Sri Lanka are divergent. However, plate boundaries between Eurasian Plate and Arabian Plate, and Eurasian plate and Australian Plate are convergent and also subduction zones. Therefore, there is a chance of generating tsunamis from earthquakes having higher magnitude in these two plate boundaries which known as Indonesian subduction Zone and Makran subduction Zone respectively. Sri Lanka was hit by a major tsunami in 2004 due to the massive earthquake occurred in Indonesian subduction zone. Many changes have been occurred after the tsunami like establishment of present warning system, communication system and development of criteria for tsunami generation. According to the present tsunami generation criteria, the magnitude of the earthquake should be greater than 6.5 and the epicenter should be less than 100 km depth in the ocean to generate a tsunami. But most of the ocean wide tsunamis were generated from the earthquakes greater than 7.9 and in the depths less than 100 km. Purpose of this study is to understand the spatio-temporal distribution of earthquakes and the preparedness of the Indonesian and Marakkan zones. The study is based on secondary earthquake data with having the magnitude greater than 6.5. Seventy (70) years USGS data were used for the period 1950 to 2020. Analysis further extended to categorize the data according to the present criteria. Moreover, a comparison of earthquake events between Indonesian region and Makran zone also identified. The study also focused on policies and institutional capacities within the region and how they have improved from 2004 tsunami. Analysis clearly showed that, the number of earthquakes is much higher during the last 3 decades compared to the previous three decades. In addition, earthquakes which having possible tsunami generation is also higher during the last three decades.

COVID-19 started in China and then spread to other countries. The Indonesian government officially announced the first case of COVID-19 on 2nd March 2020. Previously, on 4th February, the Ministry of Health issued a Decree of the Minister of Health number HK.01.07 of 2020 regarding “Determination of Novel Coronavirus Infection (2019-Ncov Infection) as a Disease That Can Cause Outbreaks And Efforts to Overcome it”. WHO then declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11th March 2021. After that, the central government issued various regulations related to the handling of COVID-19. This paper aims to study the regulations issued by the Indonesian government regarding the handling of COVID-19. The research method uses a content analysis method using nVivo software. The study results show that the regulations are quantified, consisting of 30% related to social, 10% related to the budget, 25% related to health, 20% related to COVID-19 handling organizations, and 15% related to economic recovery. This paper also presents the challenges related to the implementation of these regulations

Community-based knowledge has protected communities from natural hazards for decades. This knowledge, gathered throughout generations from observation, has increased the capability of people to understand the behaviour patterns of natural hazards specific to their local environment. Many people have used these observations to develop their own sets of defence strategies. Recent disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies have highlighted the importance of community-based knowledge and previous studies have shown the contribution they can make towards productive DRR practices in different context. However, they also show a failure to translate that knowledge into practice. This chapter presents a study to understand the role of community-based knowledge in disaster risk reduction (DRR). It is based on a systematic literature review using academic literature published online after 2010, as well as recent international policy documents related to DRR. The study addresses three guiding questions: What are the definitions and terminology associated with community-based knowledge? How is community-based knowledge addressed within international policies on DRR? What is the contribution of community-based knowledge to current DRR practices? A key word search was carried out using the terms Community-based knowledge, local knowledge, traditional knowledge, indigenous knowledge, disaster management and disaster risk reduction. The literature highlights that recent development activities and DRR measures have considered community-based knowledge as an important factor in sustainable development, yet there is a gap in integrating these measures into practice. Further studies are needed to improve and develop the mechanisms of integration to apply community-based knowledge productively for DRR.

Landslides have become one of the major disasters in Sri Lanka which has a devastative impact on anthropogenic activities. Being the highest mountain range in Monaragala district, Maragala Mountain has also classified as a landslide prone site. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to identify the landslide risk areas and the potentials of landslide risk mitigation. Questionnaires, interviews, field observations were mainly used as qualitative methods of data collection and secondary data from NBRO and Survey Department were used as the quantitative data. Satellite images were used to identify the potential landslide zones and land use. According to the analysis Viharamulla Grama Niladhari Division was identified as the high-risk area for landslides. Based on qualitative data it was clear that there is lack of awareness about landslide hazard among the community, as well as authorities. There are several cases of rock fall which happened during the past decade yet people are reluctant to inform the authorities. The main reason is the lack of awareness and they never consider it as a potential risk. If the authorities can make people aware of there is a high possibility of mitigating a future devastating landslide event. Lack of vision, frameworks, plans and non-interconnected policy practices keep the risk strong. It is always recommended to empower regional level authorities should make decisions on the possible disaster risks, mainly in the identification of risk. Therefore, this study has mainly identified the potential risk of landslide and it is the time to take necessary actions to mitigate the potential loss before it is too late.