Larung Sesaji as an indigenous community resilience practice at Mount Kelud, Indonesia

This study investigates the Larung Sesaji ritual as a community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) practice at Mount Kelud, Indonesia. For communities living near this active volcano, the annual ritual acts as a cultural mechanism that boosts their disaster preparedness. Using a qualitative ethnographic approach, data were gathered through in-depth interviews with four key informants, participatory observations, and document analyses. This research offers a novel multidimensional analysis showing that Larung Sesaji enhances community resilience across four interconnected dimensions: psychological benefits that support emotional regulation and hope through religious beliefs; social bonding and intergenerational social capital development via collective work practices ( gotong royong ); environmental conservation messages and sustainable resource management; and practical benefits that improve mental mapping of evacuation routes and internalisation of emergency protocols. The study reveals that the ritual’s design aligns with key priorities of the Sendai Framework, demonstrating how traditional knowledge can be effectively integrated into modern DRR approaches to strengthen community capacity while safeguarding cultural heritage.