Community-Based Assessment of Local Government and Community Capacity for Flood and Tidal Inundation Disaster Management in Pekalongan City

Abstract

This study aims to identify strategies for strengthening the capacity of local government and communities in managing floods and tidal inundation in Pekalongan City. A qualitative approach was employed in this research. Data were collected through interviews with forty-four community informants from flood-affected urban neighborhoods in Pekalongan City. Content analysis was applied as the main analytical method. The results show that communities in Pekalongan have several strengths in dealing with flooding and tidal inundation, including local knowledge, social solidarity, mutual cooperation, and community self-help initiatives. However, these capacities remain constrained by economic vulnerability, low levels of community participation in environmental management, limited adaptive capacity, and the weak performance of community-based disaster preparedness groups. On the other hand, the government has implemented various flood control programs and infrastructure projects, but their effectiveness is still constrained by limited budgets, slow responses to community needs, unequal distribution of assistance, and infrastructure that has not been able to keep up with land subsidence and land-use change. This study also identifies the potential to strengthen disaster management capacity through collaboration among universities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and the optimization of the Musrenbang forum as a participatory planning platform. The study concludes that sustainable flood and tidal inundation management requires integrated capacity strengthening between local government and communities through collaborative, participatory, and community empowerment-based approaches. The findings imply that flood and tidal inundation management policies should not only focus on infrastructure development, but also on strengthening social capacity, institutional capacity, and long-term community participation.