The Development of Risk Culture in Pulau Sebesi, 1883-2018

As a small island, Sebesi is open characterized as vulnerable with its communities isolated and marginalized. The island has been affected by volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, and illegal sand mining. In 2018, the island was again hit by the tsunami, which surprisingly claimed only one victim. History records that this island experienced a catastrophic tsunami caused by the Krakatau eruption in 1883. However, economic interests revived the island through plantation activities, which led to human re-inhabitation in the 1940s. We studied disaster memory, perceptions, and behavior of the Sebesi community to assess risk culture in their hazards environment. In this article, we build on existing understandings of risk culture as a holistic approach in looking at risk, which includes perception, awareness, understanding and memory, behavior and practices in preventing risk or avoiding harm. We used oral history and archival studies to analyses the perceptions of risks and its responses when faced with risk in different contexts. The study revealed that the people of Sebesi Island have created a risk culture as an adaptive effort to address their environmental hazards. Uncovering the memory, perceptions, choices, and responses in Pulau Sebesi elucidates lessons to pursue a resilient development trajectory on the island.