Mental wellbeing following landslides and residential displacement in Indonesia

Residential displacement following disasters may strongly impact mental health and wellbeing. However, relatively limited research has been devoted to this area. We investigated the impacts of landslide-displacement on mental health and wellbeing in Banjarnegara, Indonesia, with a focus on local understandings. We conducted qualitative interviews with 21 participants who were displaced by landslides and analyzed the data using a phenomenological approach. The impacts of landslides were far-reaching, extending beyond material damage to disrupt economic stability, family dynamics, and community cohesion. Participants' livelihoods and connection to land and community were deeply intertwined with their mental wellbeing, such that they should not be disentangled. This underscores the value of qualitative approaches to avoid a medicalization of lived-experiences of disasters and disaster-displacement, particular among non-Western populations. Notably, we found that even participants who relocated en masse with their neighbors felt that the social cohesion of their community was strained after landslide-displacement, providing important information for future climate-relocation programming. Lastly, we provide evidence of the need for community-centered disaster response, and identify key intervention points through which mental wellbeing may be supported. Our results have implications for future disaster preparedness, particularly in the context of climate change.