remote, but ready

Empowering rural communities to take the lead in building resilience to protect community and animal well-being when disaster strikes. 

Problem

Indonesia is an epicenter for natural disasters like volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, and landslides. When these disasters strike, marginalised people and animals tend to be hit hardest and feel the impacts of the disaster longer. Remote communities are often left on their own to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters, although they rarely have access to the resources and support to do so.

In September 2017 IFAW supported BAWA to provide food, water and emergency shelter to hundreds of dogs affected by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Agung. Many local communities had to evacuate for months, leaving their dogs behind and selling the livestock families depend on for a fraction of their true market value. Years later, these communities still have not fully recovered from the shock and stress of this event. Meanwhile the volcano remains active and further eruptions, earthquakes, flash floods and landslides remain an imminent threat to families who remain fearful of how they and their animals could cope when disaster strikes again.

Solution

Communities near Mt. Agung live at constant risk of natural disasters. To help mitigate this “new normal”, IFAW and BAWA initiated a pilot project focused on helping two remote communities on Mt. Agung build resilience and prepare for future disasters. By working directly with community members and local government, we are able to imbed disaster risk reduction into village level systems that ensure all members of the community are prepared long-term. 

Impact

More than 680 households and their animals are currently included in this project, with many others to come in the future as IFAW and partners scale up lessons learned and successes to reach more animals and people at risk. By securing access to the resources and support needed, communities can thrive alongside their animals, even after a disaster.