Assessing disaster preparedness and awareness in distance learning education program

Planning and preparing for an emergency can help keep individuals, families, and businesses safe when a disaster strikes. This research assessed the level of preparedness and awareness of high school students as to the various disasters and calamities namely: fire, flood, typhoon, an earthquake. Reducing risk and vulnerability to disasters requires peoples' understanding and awareness of how they best protect themselves and their livelihood. According to Tuladhar et al. knowing and understanding a way to prepare for a disastrous event is vital for everybody to prevent additional damage to our lives. Results show that students are well knowledgeable before a disaster occurs, however, in terms of during and after the disaster they fall in the category of the knowledgeable. This implies that students were not sure what to do and what would be their first step if a disaster would occur. The results also suggest that there’s a need to plan for educational awareness in the face of expected hazards and threats. School and community must strengthen their partnership in providing risk reduction and resilience through education.