Knowledge management and natural disaster preparedness: a systematic literature review and a case study of East Lombok, Indonesia

Disaster impacts can be significantly reduced with disaster preparedness. Knowledge management is one of the building blocks of disaster preparedness. This paper comprehends the current state of the literature on knowledge management in community preparedness towards natural disasters. The paper identifies and develops a categorization of community-related knowledge management in disaster preparedness using a systematic literature review. Subsequently, the categorization is utilized in a case study to determine if community-related knowledge management in the preparedness phase can improve communities’ responses in the event of natural disasters. The case study was conducted in the Lombok Island community of Indonesia, which experienced two major earthquakes in mid-2018 and early 2019. The results show that knowledge transfer and creation towards and among the Lombok community increased after the mid-2018 earthquake. Consequently, the community was better able to respond to the early-2019 earthquake. Better disaster preparedness activity designs are crucial in attracting participation and motivating residents to be more prepared.