Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) Assessment and Awareness Level: A Starter Preparedness Program for Junior High School

Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) requires a collaborative effort that must involve every individual in the local community including the students for them to be aware the resulting health hazards such as flood, fire, drought, earthquake, typhoon, accidents, and the damage of infrastructures, lifelines, and critical facilities resulting in human, financial, and environmental losses. This study used cross-sectional descriptive study to determine the level of students’ awareness on disaster risk reduction management on the six hazard-prone barangays in Butuan City. A self- administered, 5-point Likert scale, survey questionnaire is employed to junior high school students who are residents of at least 3 years and beyond as an inclusion criterion to gather the data concerning on the four themes of the disaster risk reduction management such as disaster preparedness, prevention and mitigation, response, and recovery program. Based on the findings, there is high level of awareness on junior students with a significant difference that can attribute to the way DRRM programs are implemented to the locals. The assessment and awareness levels of junior students on the four themes found out that six hazard-prone barangays in Butuan City are prevalent and have inducted actions involving the students’ knowledge on DRRM in their respective barangays involving themselves in local community participation, not just mere residents but rather active young citizens who truly submerge themselves into environmental hazards. Thus, becoming resilient will ensure public awareness as regarded to genuine learning to take actions to promote safety in their local communities.