IMPROVING PUPILS AWARENESS ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION MANAGEMENT

THROUGH PROJECT 2LAH (LISTO- ALERTO! LAGING HANDA!)

OF BILOGO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, BILOGO, TAYSAN, BATANGAS

An Action Research Presented

to the District of Taysan, Taysan, Batangas

By:

Arlene A. Rabano
Rosemarie M. Aguilar

July, 2019
CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

The Philippine Islands are prone to all kinds of natural hazards because of

their geographical location and physical environment. The country is strategically

located in the path of turbulent and destructive cyclones in the Pacific, and the

“Ring of Fire”. This situation has adverse effects, not only on the lives and

properties of the Filipino people, but also on the economy of the nation, as

hazard impacts may result in widespread environmental and property damages.

Natural hazards may cause danger to people, structures or economic assets, and

may lead to a disaster if they are not mitigated against and prepared for.

In disaster or emergency situations, children are very vulnerable to illness

and trauma and require special care and attention. During these trying moments,

schools offer safety and shelter to those displaced by disasters. Schools,

however, should not only offer safety after a disaster has struck. Our schools

should also be ready even before any disaster strikes. Our teachers, school

officials, and school children should learn basic life-saving tips. Our schools

should be a beacon of safety, and should be an example to the communities

which they serve.

Therefore, the awareness of children must be raised to enhance and

increase the knowledge and information on disasters. Awareness can be

considered as a concept referring to the ability of a person to perceive, to feel, or

to directly aware of any events.

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) aims to reduce the damage caused by

natural hazards like earthquakes, floods, droughts and cyclones, through an ethic
 of prevention. And to strengthen these aims, schools are required to have the

best possible preparedness in case of disaster.

Thus, the school formulates a contingency plan to promote sustainable

development and refine whatever disaster preparedness plan or program that

has been made. Contingency planning aims to prepare the school to respond

well to an emergency and its potential impact to the school and community.

Developing a contingency plan involves making decisions in advance about the

management of human and financial resources, coordination and

communications procedures, and being aware of technical and logistical

responses.

Such planning is a management tool, involving all sectors, which can help

ensure timely and effective provision of humanitarian aid to those most in need

when a disaster occurs. Time spent in contingency planning equals time saved

when a disaster occurs. Effective contingency planning should lead to timely and

effective disaster-relief operations.

Disaster is a natural or human-caused hazard that causes 'a serious disruption of the

functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material,

economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the

affected community or society to cope using its own resources' (UNISDR). The

concern over natural disasters is increasing globally. During the last two decades,

loss of life and property due to disasters has increased. Disasters like floods,

earthquakes, fire, etc pose serious threat to people. Disaster education, which

includes education on disaster risks, mitigation and preparedness strategies, is one

approach to reducing the negative consequences of disasters (Smith 1993;

Mulyasari et.al. 2011). It is imperative to increase the knowledge and attitude of

people regarding the natural and man-made disasters in order to make them able to

cope up with their adverse effects. In this paper an attempt has been made to

access the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of college students studying in district

Ganderbal of Kashmir valley regarding disaster preparedness. The results obtained

showed that there is a general lack of information among students regarding disaster

awareness and preparedness. This highlights the need for disaster safety education.

The level of practice was largely negative with acceptable knowledge and positive

attitude regarding disaster preparedness among college students of district

Ganderbal Kashmir valley. It is concluded that disaster never happened does not

mean, it cannot happen. Students can be proving useful workforce in disaster

situation. College students need to know basic strategies carried out in disaster.
 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This section will provide the related literatures and related studies that are

used in proving significant data for the advocacy.

RELATED LITERATURE

Disaster Preparedness provides for the key strategic actions that give

importance to activities revolving around community awareness and understanding ;

contingency planning; conduct of local drills and the development of a national

disaster response plan. Risk – related information coming from the prevention and

mitigation aspect is necessary in order for the preparedness activities to be

responsive to the needs of the pupils and situation on the ground .Disaster response

gives importance to activities during the actual disaster response operations from

needs assessment to search and rescue to relief operations to early recovery

activities are emphasized. There are compelling reasons why the Philippines should

adopt disaster risk reduction and management ( DRRM ). It is exposed to disasters

and hazards due to its geography and geology as well as the presence of internal

disputes in some areas. Tropical cyclones and its sequential effects of rain and

windstorms, as well as floods are the most prevalent types of hydro-meteorological

hazards in the country. Between 1997 and 2007, eightyfour ( 84 ) tropical cyclones

entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility ( PAR ) . These typhoons resulted to a

total of 13,155 in human casualty and more than 51 million families have been

affected. In addition, the Philippines is situated along a highly seismic area lying

along the Pacific Ring of Fire and is highly – prone to earthquakes.According to

Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology ( PHIVLOCS ), the country

experiences an average of five ( 5 ) earthquakes a day ( Department of Internal and

Local Government of the Philippines, 2012 ).

Over th past 20 years disasters have affected 4.4 billion people, caused 2

trillion of damage and killed 1.3 million people. These losses have outstripped the

total value of official development assistance in the same period. Natural disasters

disproportionately affect people living in developing countries and the most

vulnerable communities within those countries. Over 95 per cent of people killed by

natural disasters are from developing countries ( Extreme Weather And Natural

Disaters, 2012 ).

Disaster risk reduction is at the core of the mission of the World

Meteorological Organization ( WMO ). WMO, through its scientific and technical

programs, its network of Global Meteorological Centers and Regional Specialized

Meteorological and Climate Centers, provide scientific and technical services. This

includes observing, detecting, monitoring, predicting and early warning of a wide

range of weather - , climate- and water- related hazards.Through a coordinated

approach and working with its partners, WMO addresses the information needs and

requirements of the disaster risk management in an effective and timely

fashion.Every year, disasters related to meteorological, hydrological and climate

hazars cause significant loss of life, and set back economic and social development

by years, if not decades. This is thanks to scientific advances in forecasting,

combined with proactive disaster risk reduction policies and tools, including

contingency planning and early warning systems in a number of high risk countries

( World Meteorological Organization, 2011 ).

 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND RELATED STUDIES

Disaster preparedness is both a condition and a choice.While the knowledge

of disasters is a condition for learning their eventual management, the choice of
capacities to build is directly proportional to the degree of disaster risk reduction
which the researchers may deem acceptable or tolerable to a certain community.In
being so,