IDENTIFICATION OF DISASTER AWARENESS LEVELS OF THE VISITORS OF DISASTER-PRONE AREA OF MOUNT MERAPI IN SLEMAN REGENCY, SPECIAL REGION OF YOGYAKARTA

• Main Author: Budiatiningsih, Mahmudah
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/55706
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Indonesia is a disaster-prone country as well as one of the world's tourist destinations. Many tourist attractions, such as beaches and mountains, are located in disaster-prone areas such as tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. The Mount Merapi tourist area in Sleman is one of the disaster-prone tourist destinations. The tourism sector around Mount Merapi continues to increase after the massive eruption of Mount Merapi in 2010. It has even become one of the main sources of income for the local community. The high number of visitors to disaster-prone areas and the potential threats of eruptions at any given time have placed visitors at high risk during a disaster, especially for those who do not have any disaster awareness. Therefore, it is vital to research the disaster awareness of the visitors in disaster-prone areas of Mount Merapi. This study aims to identify the disaster awareness level of visitors to volcanic eruptions in the disaster-prone area of Mount Merapi, Sleman Regency, Special Region of Yogyakarta. This study employed a quantitative approach. The data collection methods applied included literature studies and surveys. The literature study was conducted to collect secondary data related to tourism and disaster concepts through literature review and policy review. In contrast, the survey was conducted to obtain primary data through a visitor disaster knowledge test. The instrument utilized was a knowledge test sheet consisting of 41 questions. The respondents involved were visitors in Disaster-Prone Area or KRB II and KRB III of Mount Merapi. The total samples reached 123 respondents and were obtained through convenience sampling, namely based on the availability of data accessible by the researchers. The measure was taken because the study was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Mount Merapi was on Level III or Advisory status. Data analysis was conducted through instrument analysis, descriptive analysis of the disaster knowledge level, and the correlation analysis between disaster knowledge and visitors' characteristics. Instrument analysis includes validity, reliability, and item difficulty index. The validity test was carried out through content and construct validity by experts, which was then continued by field validity. The validity, reliability, difficulty, and ability index tests were executed using the Rasch model in Quest software. In addition, the descriptive analysis presented the elaboration of v the visitor's disaster knowledge level. Furthermore, the correlation between the visitors' disaster knowledge level and their characteristics was analyzed using cross-tabulation in IBM SPSS Statistics 26 software. The instrument analysis indicated that all items were valid because they were fit to the Rasch model, in which the distribution of INFIT MNSQ was valued between 0.77–1.30. In addition, the instrument was also reliable since its items' reliability value reached 0.96, categorized as advanced level. Moreover, the difficulty index demonstrated an ideal distribution, meaning that the items consisted of too easy, easy, medium, difficult, and too difficult test items. Likewise, the visitors' cognitive ability index also signified an ideal distribution since their ability was varied from very low, low, medium, high, and very high levels. The results suggested that most of the visitors' disaster knowledge was adequate. Therefore, it can be concluded that the visitors' disaster awareness level in the disaster-prone area at Mount Merapi was sufficient; the visitors had adequate knowledge regarding the causes, threats, impacts, signs of a volcanic eruption, and self-rescue spots. Besides, the visitors were also relatively familiar with the disaster-prone areas. Nonetheless, their knowledge of emergency response and preparedness remained poor. Similarly, the visitors' knowledge was also poor in deciding what steps to execute during an emergency response. Based on the cross-tabulation analysis, only the variable of visitors' involvement in the disaster preparedness training/simulation correlated with the visitors' disaster knowledge with a significance value of 0.015 and the Spearman Correlation value of 0.218. These results suggest a poor but positive correlation between the visitors' disaster knowledge level and their involvement in the disaster preparedness training/simulation.