| Summary: | The importance of culture towards disasters was particularly highlighted during the Indian Ocean tsunami. When the tsunami hit the coast lines of the Southeast Asian countries in the year 2004, some communities with indigenous knowledge regarding tsunami were successfully survived such as the folklore of Smong in Simeulue Island. Survival of some indigenous communities as oppose to migrants and tourists were mainly based on the presence of “cultural” knowledge of people had on the tsunami. This paper aims to reveal a local belief in southern coast of Sukabumi Regency related to tsunami disaster risk reduction. Methods in this study consist of field work and interview of local people in the study area of Pelabuhan Ratu region. Results show that there is folklore about the existence of a queen as the ruler of southern ocean in the study area. The queen of Nyi Roro Kidul is believed to be a guardian of people to safely living and fishing around coastal area. Though there is no physical evidence of this culture but this kind of belief is potential to be used for increasing disaster risk reduction efforts among the people in the future. This folklore is usable for research and local government related to community-based disaster risk management. Keywords: Disaster culture, local belief, folklore, Sukabumi
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