Indigenous Knowledge and Practices of the Ethnic and Small Island Communities in Disaster Management

Abstract

Disaster does know no boundary. Irrespective of people’s color and shade, caste and creed, religion and culture, and language and ethnicity, disasters continue to cause havoc on population it traverses. In most cases, the poor, destitute, and the marginal ethnic communities are badly affected. The ethnic communities are doubly affected mainly due to their poverty and living in the periphery. The paper looked into survival strategies of the coastal communities in the Asia-Pacific, Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean, and the coastal islands of the Bay of Bengal. Their coping strategies as they face earthquake, tsunami, and hazards like cyclones, floods, and tidal surges were examined in threadbare. Various signs and bizarre symptoms reflected in animal behavior, movement of the celestial bodies, and environmental signs and symptoms; beliefs in local tradition and religion helped the local community to develop a coping mechanism in order to live with the disasters. The paper observed that these island ethnic communities have been living with floods, tidal surges, cyclones, and tsunamis from time immemorial. Their life and living are intertwined with the sea, forests, hills, volcanoes (often dead), and the surroundings. They are the children of the sea. Many a times, their local knowledge and practices transcended on them over the generations were found handy in saving their lives from these periodic disasters.