Tobacco use in the context of natural disasters: a scoping review pertinent to tobacco control in Indonesia.

OBJECTIVE

In Indonesia, the second most natural disaster-prone country in the world, the tobacco industry exploits such crises via corporate social responsibility. The objective of this study was to map existing evidence on natural disasters and tobacco use in order to understand how tobacco control policies could be optimised in disaster-prone regions.

DESIGN

Scoping review.

DATA SOURCES: ScienceDirect, PubMed and Google Scholar, with searches conducted twice: between January and April 2024 and again in August 2025.

STUDY SELECTION: All studies examining natural disasters, smoking behaviours and the tobacco industry.

DATA EXTRACTION: Studies were assessed primarily on reports of tobacco use change, tobacco control policy enforcement, tobacco industry interference and mention of the role of stress. Data on country, disaster type, type of research study and sample details were also collated.

RESULTS

27 of the 611 identified studies were included in the final analysis. Two-thirds of studies reported an increase in smoking rates following disasters. No studies mentioned tobacco control policy enforcement or tobacco industry interference during disasters. Most of the studies (74%) which examined the relationship between disaster-related stress and smoking found a positive association. About half (51.9%) of the studies described disasters in the Americas.

CONCLUSIONS

Smoking rates often rise after stress-inducing disasters. More evidence is urgently required to assist countries like Indonesia in enforcing tobacco control and preventing tobacco industry interference.