Student researcher

Steve Sutton Research Leader

This thesis examines the components of the socio-cultural context of an Indonesian island community that reportedly led to a remarkably low level of casualties during the Indian Ocean Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. Various elements of the social context of the Simeulue Island community are being assessed for their contribution to disaster response behaviour, potentially including community participation, collective efficacy, empowerment and trust as well as the maintenance of traditional disaster response knowledge. The key factors that contributed to the disaster response behaviour will then be considered in Australian cultural settings with a view to improving risk communication and community resilience.

The primary question for this study is: what are the cultural drivers of disaster response behaviour on Simeulue Island and do these have cross-cultural applicability? Also considered is: what is it about the cultural context of south-eastern Australia that diminishes personal responsibility for maintaining personal and family safety in the face of bushfires and natural hazards? At the same time, what is it about the culture of Simeulue that enables individuals to act appropriately in the face of natural hazards?

Year Type Citation
2021 Journal Article Sutton, S., Paton, D., Burgelt, P. T., Sagala, S. & Meilianda, E. Nandong smong and tsunami lullabies: Song and music as an effective communication tool in disaster risk reduction. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 65, (2021).
2019 Conference Paper Sutton, S., Paton, D., Burgelt, P. T., Meilianda, E. & Sagala, S. Are we future ready? It depends on who you ask . AFAC19 powered by INTERSCHUTZ - Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Forum (Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience, 2019). at <https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/australian-journal-of-emergency-management-monograph-series/>
2019 Journal Article Fisher, R., Heckbert, S., Villalobos, J. Maria Leon & Sutton, S. Augmenting physical 3D models with projected information to support environmental knowledge exchange. Applied Geography 112, (2019).
2018 Book Chapter Rahman, A., Iwasaki, S., Sutton, S. & Sakurai, A. Urban Drought 399-412 (Springer, 2018). doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8947-3_23
2017 Conference Paper Rumsewicz, M. Research proceedings from the 2017 Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and AFAC Conference. Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC & AFAC annual conference 2017 (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2017).
2017 Conference Paper Sutton, S. Too good to be true? How a remote island community developed a 100% effective risk communication strategy and what Australia can learn from it. AFAC17 (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2017).
2016 Conference Paper Rumsewicz, M. Research proceedings from the 2016 Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and AFAC conference. Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC & AFAC annual conference 2016 (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2016).
2016 Conference Paper Sutton, S. How do island communities balance disaster resilience and what can mainlanders learn from that?. AFAC16 (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2016).
Cultural Drivers of Disaster Risk Reduction Behaviour
11 Sep 2015
This project examines the case study of Simeulue Island - A  rare example of an entire community responding...
Steve Sutton Conference Poster 2016
12 Aug 2016
This project is about what went right –a disaster where the whole community responded in exactly the right...