Page | 1 THE SOCIO-CULTURAL INFLUENCE IN COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS FOR ENHANCING POST-DISASTER CAPACITY (CASE IN NORTHEAST ALOR DISTRICT) Published in the 8 th IGSSCI Proceeding Dina Ruslanjari, Awaluddin Ilyas, Bayu Kurnia Adhi and Resti Kinanthi The Graduate School of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Email: dienarus@ugm.ac.id, bayu.kurnia.a@mail.ugm.ac.id Abstract This paper aims to find and analyze the influence of socio-cultural factors of the local community in a capacity enhancement of disaster preparedness to face the possibility of a future earthquake event. The disaster preparedness components which in this paper embodied as a knowledge and experience variables were also being analyzed to seek for its influence in disaster capacity. The socio-cultural factors of the local community were analyzed and found by conducting quantitative method with questionnaire tool as an instrument and later scored by weighting process. The multiple linear regression analysis was used to define the socio- cultural factors that have influence in disaster preparedness process which utilized as an input in creating a model for future community capacity enhancement. The social institution came out as the only factor in socio-cultural that has the significant influence to capacity enhancement. In addition, the variables of preparedness component which are “the preparation against disaster” and “group membership” have a significant influence in capacity based on multiple regression analysis. Hence, the three variables that respectively found significant for the capacity enhancement process were taken as an input for strategic enhancement model. In order to achieve effective capacity enhancement based on this paper, the social institution which weakened due to the emersion of nonvoluntary assistance (money-induced) between the local people can be distinguished by focusing in the mind- setting of the local teenager to act voluntarily as the form of togetherness between them. In conclusion the enhancement of social institution itself has to be adjusted with disaster drilling and preparation against future disaster event. Keywords Socio-cultural, Community preparedness, Capacity enhancement 1. Introduction Alor Earthquake and Disaster Management Alor Regency is one of the regency in East Nusa Tenggara Province (NTT) which geologically included in the tectonic area of Banda Arc that characterized by high seismic level (Ibrahim & Subarjdo, 2005; Ngadmanto, 2010). Based on the seismograph recording and analysis from Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics, there are 248 event of significant earthquake happened during 30 years period in Alor Regency which four of those event were devastating earthquake and had been causing a big number of physical and human casualties. The seismic activity in Alor Regency is triggered by the subduction of Indo-Australia plate that penetrates the Eurasian Plate which marked by the existence of oceanic trough on