Local wisdom of Aek Latong society for mitigation and adaptation of soil movement disaster in North Sumatra, Indonesia

Lately, due to advance technology, some of natural disasters could be forecasted, therefore the people can decide where to go to avoid the disasters. However, people in Aek Latong North Sumatra did different thing. They just stayed in their villages or regions without moving to anticipate the impact that might happen. This research was aimed to identify the local wisdom of Aek Latong society in facing, mitigating, and adapting the disaster, especially soil movement disaster in their region. This research was conducted through 3 steps (preparation, main survey, and data analyses). At the first step (preparation) was conducted to get secondary data about Aek Latong , such as geographical position, natural condition, type of natural disaster, society and the tradition. The second step (main survey) was conducted by directly interviewing the people in Aek Latong how they face, mitigate, and adapt the disaster happening. The third step was data analyses. Based on data resulted, Aek Latong society has a strong belief inherited from their ancients that everything come from the almighty God, therefore they have to face it. They believe that God has specific purposes to do so for them, they do not have to easily give up. Then, they also mitigate and adapt the disaster by earlier checking the signs of disaster and following the advice given, besides they did not construct building and do farming activities in sloping area and in the river bank. It could be concluded that Aek Latong society was able to face, mitigate, and adapt to the natural disaster in their region by their belief, knowledge, as well as by following the advice given.