This article explores the response of traditional societies
in the face of natural hazards through the lens of the concept
of resilience. Resilient societies are those able to overcome
the damages brought by the occurrence of natural hazards,
either through maintaining their pre-disaster social fabric,
or through accepting marginal or larger change in order to
survive. Citing the case of the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption in
the Philippines and its impact on the Aeta communities who
have been living on the slopes of the volcano for centuries, it
suggests that the capacity of resilience of traditional societies
and the concurrent degree of cultural change rely on four
factors, namely: the nature of the hazard, the pre-disaster sociocultural
context and capacity of resilience of the community,
the geographical setting, and the rehabilitation policy set up
by the authorities. These factors significantly vary in time and
space, from one disaster to another. It is important to perceive
their local variations to better anticipate the capability of
traditional societies to overcome the damage brought by the
occurrence of natural hazards and therefore predict eventual
cultural change.