Utilization of Muria Strait Toponymy data in mitigation: Building resilience to disaster risk

Abstract The North Coast of Java Island, including the area around Kendal to Rembang (formerly known as the Muria Strait region), is susceptible to sea water rise and land subsidence, which pose a significant risk to the lives of its inhabitants. Similarly, the districts of Demak, Kudus, Pati, Rembang, and Juwana are also vulnerable to these threats given that they were formed by alluvial deposits and are now densely populated. However, the community’s resilience to various changes in Muria Strait’s geosphere can be observed in the development of local knowledge, including toponymy. In the modern era, toponymic data can be used as instruments to support disaster mitigation and recovery efforts. The information content obtained after the toponymy study can be used as an instrument to increase public awareness and develop a targeted mitigation infrastructure. Given the community’s vulnerability to a range of disasters exacerbated by climate change, the objective of this research is to disseminate the findings of a toponym study of the Muria Strait, with a focus on the potential of these data to inform disaster-mitigation strategies. Toponymy data analysis was conducted using an ethnopedological approach in the context of archaeological and historical research. This approach was also necessary to analyse historical sources related to soil cover/land use (SLC) and changes in the geosphere of the Muria Strait over time.