Level of Compliance with the Risk Reduction and Disaster Preparedness Program among Public Secondary Schools in Buenavista, Bohol, Philippines

Abstract

Risk reduction is recognized as vital for building a more equitable future and for reducing the severity of losses during disasters. Effective risk reduction occurs when there is a cooperation between sectors of society, and there is an existing disaster preparedness program in place. The primary thrust of this study was to determine the level of compliance with the school risk reduction and disaster preparedness program among the public secondary schools in the District of Buenavista, Bohol, Philippines. It sought to determine compliance in the aspects of safe learning facilities, school disaster management, and disaster risk reduction in education. The study employed a quantitative method through a survey questionnaire anchored on the instruments developed by the Department of Education (DepEd). The findings revealed that schools had a good compliance level on disaster preparedness. However, some problems were encountered such as inadequate training materials and lack of training among the school disaster risk reduction management teams. Despite these challenges, both teachers and students agreed that the public secondary schools were generally compliant. A need was seen to continue the conduct of disaster preparedness training and seminars as well as budget allocation to finance the publication and dissemination of training materials of the program for distribution to schools.