Assessing disaster preparedness and mental health of community members in Aceh, Indonesia: a community-based, descriptive household survey of a national program.
Disaster preparedness of the community is an essential disaster-mitigation strategy to protect human life and to prevent injuries and property damage. This study aimed to assess the knowledge of disaster, and the disaster preparedness of community members in Aceh, Indonesia.



A community-based descriptive household survey was conducted in 40 villages of three tsunami-affected districts in Aceh State, Indonesia. In total, 827 randomly selected community members were interviewed with structured questionnaires during the period September-October 2014.



About 57.6% of community members had good knowledge of disaster, while 26.0% had good community disaster preparedness. Neither knowledge of disaster nor disaster preparedness of community members achieved the target of the Community Mental Health Nurse Program outcome indicators (<70.0%).



The proportions of people with good knowledge of disaster and disaster preparedness were quite low. The government of Aceh State should revitalize the program to improve the effectiveness of community mental health nurses in transferring the knowledge of disasters and disaster preparedness to the community's members, then expand it to other provinces of Indonesia, using standard approaches and the lessons learned from Aceh.
Universitas Syiah Kuala, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia. nizam_ismail@yahoo.com.
Nizam
N
Ismail
Department of Public Health Administration, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. nawarat.suw@mahidol.ac.th.
Nawarat
N
Suwannapong
Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. npp92432@yahoo.com.
Nopporn
N
Howteerakul
Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. mathuros.tip@mahidol.ac.th.
Mathuros
M
Tipayamongkholgul
Department of Psychiatry, Siriraj Hospital, Bangkoknoi, Bangkok, Thailand. suporn.api@mahidol.ac.th.
Suporn
S
Apinuntavech
D001294:Attitude to Health; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods*; D004190:Disasters; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Asia; Community Participation; Health Promotion; Management/Administration; Public Health