The Impact of Retrofitting Work on Awareness Raising and Knowledge Transfer in Aceh Province, Indonesia

Some of the buildings in Aceh Province, Indonesia constructed after the 2004 earthquake and tsunami disaster were found vulnerable. The vulnerable buildings were retrofitted to make them safer and child friendly. Save the Children, one of the implementing agencies, assumed that the process of retrofitting would attract interest from the communities, raise their earthquake awareness, stimulate earthquake safe construction practices, and contribute to earthquake disaster risk reduction. It was also assumed that the retrofitting process would benefit the communities through knowledge transfer of safer construction practices. To assess the impact on awareness and knowledge transfer of the retrofitting work carried out by Save the Children from 2005 to 2008, a survey was carried out in 2009. A total of 104 people who were directly involved in the retrofitting/rehabilitation process were interviewed. The survey covered four districts in Aceh Province, Indonesia where schools, health facilities, and houses were retrofitted. The survey results show that the respondents felt that the impact of retrofitting work on transferring knowledge in the communities was not significant. However, the respondents felt that the retrofitting work had a definite impact on raising awareness of disaster risks and measures for disaster risk reduction.