DISASTER LITERACY, PERCEIVED PREPAREDNESS, AND RESPONSE CAPABILITIES AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL LEARNERS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15957929Keywords:
disaster literacy, disaster preparedness, disaster response, senior high school, experiential learning, DRRM education, Bacolod CityAbstract
With the rising frequency and intensity of natural disasters in the Philippines and across the globe, enhancing disaster preparedness through education has become an urgent priority. This study assessed the levels of disaster literacy, perceived preparedness, and response capabilities among 233 senior high school learners in a coastal public high school in Bacolod City, a community highly vulnerable to typhoons, flooding, and other hydrometeorological hazards. Employing a descriptive-comparative-correlational design, the study utilized a teacher-made disaster literacy test and an adapted survey instrument to collect data, which were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U tests, and Pearson correlation. Results showed that students were fairly satisfactory in disaster literacy, somewhat prepared, and perceived themselves as prepared to respond during disasters. No statistically significant differences were observed based on sex or academic strand. However, significant but weak inverse correlations were found between disaster literacy and both perceived preparedness and response capabilities, indicating that knowledge alone may not directly enhance students’ disaster readiness. These findings highlight the need for experiential, skills-based learning approaches in disaster education. Schools must go beyond cognitive instruction and adopt simulation-based and community-integrated strategies to bridge the gap between awareness and action.
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