The significant role of religious group’s response to natural disaster in Indonesia: the case of Santri Tanggap Bencana (Santana)

Abstract

Natural disasters, which occur regularly in Indonesia, have inspired many volunteer groups to emerge from different groups of society, including religious group. This paper focuses on the experiences of the religious volunteer group called Santana (Islamic student's response to disaster) in East Java region. The group is part of Islamic education institution (pesantren) that emphasizes religious aspects and attempts to realize religious values in everyday life. The group gives religious meaning to the experience of disaster and the efforts to help disaster 1 This article was based on "Religion and Natural Disaster" project funded by Center for Religious and Cross Culture Studies (CRCS), Gadjah Mada University under Heddy Shri AhimsaPutra supervision. Besides, this was presented in the 6 th Asian Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 11-15 July 2011. The author would like to thank participants for their earlier version of this paper. R. Michael Feener, Patrick Daly, and Levi McLaughlin provided some useful criticism and suggestions. Special thank to Kay Mohlman for her academic English support relate to this article. June 2012: 53-77 54 victims. The aim of this study is to describe Santana's response to natural disaster as not only a natural but also a cultural phenomenon. This study reveals a large number of religious symbols referring to disaster as natural and theological phenomena. Referring to the religious text, disaster victims are categorized by Santana as weak people (mustad'afin). It has inspired this group to engage in their social activism. Their commitment to the religious tenets involves not only giving material aid but also promoting spiritual empowerment. This gives insight into the dynamic of how religious groups manifest their religious values by providing both material and spiritual aid. IJIMS, Indonesian Journal of Islam and MuslimSocieties, Volume 2, Number 1,Bencana alam yang terjadi hampir setiap tahun di Indonesia telah mendorong kemunculan kelompok relawan dari berbagai elemen masyarakat, termasuk kelompok agama. Artikel ini terfokus pada pengalaman relawan dari kelompok agama bernama Santana (santri tanggap bencana) di Jawa Timur. Kelompok relawan ini merupakan bagian dari lembaga pesantren yang menekankan aspek keagamaan serta berusaha merealisasikan nilai-nilai keagamaan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Kelompok ini memberikan pemaknaan keagamaan pada kejadian bencana alam sekaligus berusaha menolong korban bencana. Tujuan studi ini adalah mendeskripsikan tanggapan kelompok Santana atas bencana alam yang tidak hanya sebagai kejadian alam melainkan juga fenomena (perubahan) kebudayaan. Artikel ini menyatakan bahwa terdapat sebuah gundukan simbol keagamaan yang menempatkan bencana sebagai peristiwa alam dan fenomena teologis. Dengan merujuk pada teks keagamaan, korban bencana dikategorikan oleh Santana sebagai orang lemah (Mustad'afin). Konsep ini mendorong mereka melakukan aktivisme sosial. Komitmen mereka atas ajaran agama tidak hanya telah memunculkan pertolonga...

The relationship between religion and psychological resilience against COVID-19

“…In This component is the basis of human resilience and resistance to life events and challenges (Rokib 2012). It is extremely important to provide a correct explanation of a complex phenomenon.…”

The fiqh of disaster: The mitigation of Covid-19 in the perspective of Islamic education-neuroscience

“…So far, research on Disaster Jurisprudence is still limited to natural or geological disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, eruptions, and hurricanes, as is the trend of disaster research in Australia [ 23 ], India [ 24 ], and Asia [ 25 ], including disasters in the perspective of religion in Indonesia [ 28 ]. Several studies have begun to investigate non-natural or non-geological disasters such as social crises and inter-ethnic conflicts such as the Rohingya humanitarian disaster in 2017 [ 26 ], [ 27 ].…”

Reconstruction of Islamic Philosophy as a perspective for sustainable development of vocational education

“…An article by Rokib M. [14] is devoted to the experience of a religious volunteer group called Santana (Islamist student response to a natural disaster) in the East Java region. The group is part of an Islamic educational institution that emphasizes religious aspects and attempts to implement religious values in everyday life.…”