Disaster Resilience Rural Community (DRRC) community capitals: case studies in the rural area of east coast, Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

According to scholars in disaster and resilient-related studies, the focus in building a resilient community in disaster is the need to understand three capitals particularly economic, social, and environmental. This study aims to identify the capitals of internal and external resilience factors for the flood-related disasters experienced by three rural communities in Malaysia. A total of 43 resilience factors were identified from the three key capitals. Field research was carried out to identify the internal and external factors that had contributed to the resilience of the rural communities to floods in Malaysia. Case studies and a questionnaire survey were conducted in the following households: (1) Lubok Setol village in Kelantan state; (2) Teladas village in Terengganu state; and (3) Gajah Mati village in Pahang state. A total of 90 respondents participated in the survey that was carried out from January 2018 (right after the major flood occurred in December 2017) to mid-February 2018. Data analysis was carried out using the Relative Importance Index (RII) method mainly for prioritising and categorising answer key components of community resilience. Responses that received higher RII scores were ranked higher or given a higher priority compared to factors with a lower RII score. Findings indicate that the respondents agreed that all three community capitals strongly influence DRRC.