Traditional Communication as a Missing Lens in Disaster Studies: A Perspective from the Mentawai Islands

Abstract

Disaster communication research has traditionally privileged technological early warning systems, assuming that rapid and effective preparedness depends primarily on digital infrastructure, sensors, and institutional protocols. This Perspective challenges that assumption by arguing that indigenous communication systems documented in the Mentawai Islands constitute a culturally grounded communication infrastructure that is equally vital for disaster preparedness. Drawing on published ethnographic studies, disaster reports, and existing literature on Mentawai society, this article highlights how traditional communication practices embodied in the authority of the sikerei, tuddukat acoustic signalling, ritual-based meaning-making, and ecological knowledge enable rapid social mobilisation, strengthen communal trust, and generate shared interpretations of risk in ways that formal systems often fail to achieve. Indigenous communication is not merely symbolic or ceremonial; it is operational, actionable, and deeply embedded in everyday social life. The sikerei function as high-trust communicators who interpret environmental signs and legitimise collective responses, while tuddukat drums operate as non-digital early warning systems that transmit codified danger messages across dispersed settlements. Rituals and belief systems further shape emotional resilience and guide behavioural responses during crises. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that disaster preparedness in island communities is sustained not only by technological tools but also by cultural infrastructures that communicate risk through relational, sensory, and intergenerational channels. This Perspective calls for rethinking disaster communication frameworks to integrate indigenous knowledge as an epistemic partner, not as supplementary folklore, but as an essential component of effective community-based disaster risk reduction.