Level of Compliance with the Risk Reduction and Disaster Preparedness Program Don

Pablo Lorenzo Memorial High School, Zamboanga, Philippines

 Chapter I
Introduction

A. Background of the Study

Since 2007, the Philippines Department of Education (DepEd) has started to

mainstream disaster risk reduction into the education sector. DepEd issued a policy,

DepEd Order no. 55 that prioritizes the mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction in the

school system. A Disaster Risk Reduction Resource Manual was developed for

school administrators, principals, supervisors and teachers on the implementation of

disaster risk reduction projects.

In 2010, the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act was

passed, and DepEd created the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office

(DRRMO) as the focal point in planning, implementing, coordinating and monitoring

activities related to disaster risk reduction, education in emergencies and climate

change adaptation. Other roles included initiating and coordinating activities with

government agencies and civil society organisations, and serving as the

clearinghouse for all school safety resources including production and issuance of

teaching and learning materials, and distribution of school kits. With the creation of

DRRMO, a Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Focal Point for each

region and division was assigned.

In October 2015, the DRRMO has been elevated to a DRRM Service, which is

granted equal authority with other offices in DepEd, i.e. hire full-time regular staff to

carry out its roles and functions. With the elevation of the DRRMO to a Service, the
post of a designated Focal Point in the regions and divisions has been replaced with

a regular-hired DRRM Coordinator. The process of hiring regular staff (17

Coordinators for the regions and 221 for the divisions) has been ongoing at all levels.

The following are other key policies related to school safety that have been

issued:

 Disaster Preparedness Measures for Schools (DO 83, s. 2011)

 Guidelines on the Use of the Quick Response Fund (DM 104, s. 2011) –

that can be used by disaster-affected schools

 Enforcement of support to implement grant calamity loans to teaching and

non-teaching staff in areas affected by calamities (DO 10, s. 2011)

 Quarterly conduct of the National School-based Earthquake and Fire Drills

(DO 48, s. 2012)

 Continuing Fire Safety and Awareness Program (FSAP) in Schools (DO 72,

s. 2012)

 Integration of disaster risk reduction in the data collection forms

incorporated in the Enhanced Basic Education Information System (EBEIS) (DO 23,

s. 2014)

 Guidelines on Student-Led School Watching and Hazard Mapping (DO 23,

s. 2015)

 Promoting Family Earthquake Preparedness to all elementary and

secondary schools with instruction and guidance (DO 27, s. 2015)

 Comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction and Management in Basic

Education Framework (DO 37, s. 2015)

 The Comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction and Management in Basic

Education Framework adopts the Global Framework for Comprehensive School

Safety. It provides guidance in:

 The inclusion of DRRM in the school, division and regional education

development plans.

 The implementation of DRRM for education practitioners’ and partners’

planning and programming at all levels.

 Defining the agency’s preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation

initiatives with respect to hazards affecting school operations.

 Serving as mechanism for engaging partners and aligning their thrust to

DepEd priorities.

 Guiding collaboration with the private schools.

B. Statement of the Problem

The study aim to determine the level of compliance with the risk

reduction and disaster program of Don Pablo Lorenzo Memorial High School for the

school year 2019-2020. Furthermore, it aim to delve deeper into the following

aspects:

a.) The level of compliance with the school risk reduction and

disaster preparedness program as perceived by the respondents in the aspects of

safe learning facilities, school disaster management and disaster risk reduction in

education.

b.) The problems encountered by the teachers in the implementation

of the school risk reduction and disaster preparedness program.

C. Significance of the Study

The findings of the research would be made available to the Philippine

Department of Education specifically the Zamboanga City Division Office to

determine the level of compliance of the school in terms of the implementation of

risk reduction and disaster preparedness program. If learners and educators are

not well equipped or prepared to handle the situation before, during and after

disaster, then the Department of Education should consider enhancing its

programs on Disaster Management for educators and learners. DepEd may use

the findings to guide the formulation of policies, plan for revamping and improving

on existing policies and practices on Disaster management.

The research findings may also be of utmost importance to principals,

teachers, students and education stakeholders to employ basic need approach

planning theory that give priority to provision of essential services such as security

to plan for school activities.. The report findings may also be useful to any NGOs

interested in planning and directing of mitigation of disasters or providing their

services, relief food, and funds towards saving life in case of disaster.

D. Scope and Delimitations

This study is focus on determining of school’s level of compliance with the

Risk Reduction and Disaster Preparedness Program by the Philippine Department

of Education.

This study is limited to one of the secondary public school in Zamboanga

City. The respondents will be randomly selected, regardless of sex, religion,

ethnicity, within the school. Due to time constraints, the study will limit the
respondents to one class with 50 students in each levels (Level 1 – Level 4) and

five (5) teachers in each levels as well.

 Chapter II
THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

A. Literature Review

The concept disaster is defined as a serious disruption of the functioning of

a community or a society, causing widespread human, material, economic or

environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community/society

to cope using its own resources (ISDR, 2002:24). Paton and Johnston (2001:270)

and Alexander (1997:289) define disasters as those events that displace the

structural, economic, organizational, cultural and spiritual well-being of

communities by destroying their means of existence. Disaster could either be

human-induced or natural occurrences. Disasters are natural if they just happen

without being induced by humans like tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes, storms

and floods.

Dramatic increases have been witnessed in recent years in the frequency

and impact of the hazardous natural disasters in the world. While one of the

reasons of that increase may stem from the mal use of nature and environment by

the people such as destruction of the forests, agricultural areas, fresh water

sources and the like which causes a lot of floods, fires, storms and similar kind of

disasters; the other stems from the inherent nature of the earth which produces

lots of quakes, volcano explosions and the like. Whatever the reason, the truth is

that lots of loses, injuries and damages have been experienced during these

disasters, and by training the people the rate of the loses and damages may be

lessened and even in some cases may entirely be prevented. For that reason,
especially by UN agencies and by some developed countries, some efforts are

devoted to the training of people by awakening them towards disasters and by

training them about what they will do before, during and after the occurrence of the

disasters.

The world at present is experiencing increased exposure to risks and

hazards of both climate-related and human-made disasters that pose a threat

to lives and sustainable development efforts. This scenario needs serious

attention so disaster capacity and mitigation efforts can be formulated to reduce

population exposure and vulnerability in international and local settings. Disasters

are inevitable, but their scope and magnitude are often magnified due to

unsustainable development that has not taken into account the possible hazard

impacts in a particular location. The effects of such can be minimized if the

population has a better understanding of locally-experienced hazards and

implements corresponding preventive or mitigating measures. A report from the

Asian Disaster Reduction Center (2002) states that Asia has been suffering from

about 38 percent of the major natural disasters of the world. The Asian region

accounts for 57 percent of people killed and 88 percent of the people affected by

natural disasters. Southeast Asia is exposed to all types of hazards and has

been coping with their effects for hundreds of years. In its Annual Disaster

Statistical Review for 2012, the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of

Disasters ranked the Philippines third worldwide in terms of the number of

reported natural disaster events and first in the 34 number of disaster-related

mortalities in 2011. The Philippines’ archipelagic makeup and geographic

location make it most vulnerable to disasters and hazards, both natural and

human-made. This was manifested in the destruction caused by the super

typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) which devastated the islands of Leyte, Samar and other

Visayan islands that even well-built schools and other educational buildings

suffered serious damage, with their roofs being blown away and windows

shattered (Esteban, Valenzuela, Yun, Mikami, Shibayama, Matsumaru, &

Nakamura, 2015). The disasters experienced in the Philippines spurred the DepEd

(Department of Education) authorities to integrate the disaster risk reduction and

management in their curricula. Section 14 of Republic Act 10121 (or the Philippine

Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010) requires the DepEd among

other agencies to integrate the said curricula. For the elementary and junior high

school levels, DRRM (Disaster Risk Reduction and Management) education has

not been made a stand-alone subject but only a component of subjects such as

science, technology, and social science. The DepEd, however, has made DRRM

education as an independent subject for the senior high school level. In Central

Visayas, a devastating earthquake hit Bohol which disrupted education throughout

the region. The damage to education infrastructure was extensive (Bohol

Earthquake Action Plan, 2013). Multiple schools were rendered unusable because

of damage or prolonged use as shelters. As cited by Benson (2016), such disasters

have caused many developing countries significant enhancing gaps in the event

of a disaster; falling back instead on the reallocation of planned capital and

recurrent spending to meet more immediate post-disaster spending

requirements and often redirecting capital budgets over a number of subsequent

years to meet reconstruction costs. Shaw, Kobayashi & Kobayashi (2004) maintain

that education and awareness inoculates a “culture of disaster preparedness” in

students and empowers them to make the right decisions should they encounter

such situations in the future. Muttarak and Pothisiri (2014) found that formal

education can increase an individual’s preparedness for disasters and thus,

reduce vulnerability to natural hazards. However, a study conducted by Tuladhar,

Yatabe, Dahal, & Bhandary (2015) found that some of the teachers do not have

enough knowledge about disaster and risk reduction issues in the educational

sector. Thus, 35it was recommended that DRRM education be promoted to

communities through well-groomed school teachers to reduce disaster risks

and to establish a disaster-prepared society which correlates with Bandura’s

(1986) social cognitive theory. It is said that people become motivated to respond

to disasters when they form their basis on outcome expectancies and self-

efficacy so they must be oriented on the consequences of disasters.A study

of Sinha, Pal, Kasar, Tiwari, & Sharma (2008) recommends that students must be

exposed to different orientations, workshops and mock drills and similar practical

exercises which are helpful in developing the interest of the learners as well as

improving knowledge and awareness. The study conducted by Rambau, Beukes,

& Fraser (2012) recognized the role of education for encouraging the integration

of disaster risk education in school curricula in countries vulnerable to natural

hazards and the safe construction and renovation of school buildings to withstand

natural hazards. Thus, Skinner (2014) stressed the importance of educating the

students through positive reinforcement such as disaster stimulation exercises and

drills were more effective than punishment when trying to change and establish

behaviors. This leads individuals to learn and be aware of different risks about

disaster issues. Furthermore, an important factor in ensuring the sustainability of

disaster resilience and preparedness approaches lies in the ownership and use of

national and local government institutions (Parsons, Glavac, Hastings, Marshall,

McGregor, McNeill, Morley, Reeve, & Stayner, 2015). This manifests how the

decision maker sets alternatives in light of their possible consequences as

explained by Hansson (2005) in his decision theory. He posits that local

authorities have a big role for the safety and security of the students since they are

persons with closer contact to the people of the community. Such institutions found

in the community will be guided especially in the education sector where the

students are among those vulnerable to the effects of any disaster. All these

discussions spurred the researchers to conduct this study to explore the level of

compliance with the risk reduction and disaster preparedness program among the

public secondary schools in Buenavista District, Province of Bohol. The

researchers are hopeful that the findings of this study can form the basis of an

action plan to enhance or improve school risk reduction and disaster

preparedness.

Disaster preparedness refers to activities and measures taken in advance

to ensure effective response to the impact of disasters, including the issuance of

timely and effective early warnings and the temporary removal of people and

property from a threatened location (ISDR, 2002:25).

 B. Related Studies

C. Theoretical Source

D. Process Flow Chart

E. Hypothesis

F. Definition of Terms

Chapter III

Methodology

A. Research Design

B. Research Locale

C. Respondents

D. Research Instrument

The tool used was a two-part-questionnaire-checklists (Likert scale) designed to

identify the perception of the secondary students on the factor affecting their health

problems.

The first part focused on the factor affecting their Eating patterns associated with

health problems. Each statement is answerable by a YES or a NO.

The second part focused on the Eating Pattern Assessment. A scale which

answerable using a check on the corresponding column; Never, Rarely, Sometimes, and

Always.
E. Data Gathering

Letter of permission was sent to the Principal of respective Public school for approval

to conduct the survey/ study. After class selection, on initial encounter the students were

made aware of the Incidence Rate of health associated with eating patterns and Top 5

reasons then researchers gave students the research instrument and discussed how to

answer the questionnaire. The desired data were collected obtaining objective data and

were analyzed and interpreted.

F. Sample and Sampling Technique

The sampling technique used was purposive sampling technique, a non-

representative subset of some of the students’ population. The subjects belong to a

specific class selected by the researcher to serve the purpose of this study.

G. Validity and Reliability

The survey questionnaires were referred to the experts/ professionals for comments

and suggestions. The instrument was evaluated based on the reliability and content

validity instrument and checked for content, logical sequence, presentation and style of

the questionnaire and appropriateness for data collections.

H. Ethical Consideration

The respondents of the study or their legal guardians were asked to sign an informed written

consent, which carefully explained and ascertained that the respondents understand the purpose of

their voluntary participation throughout the conduct of the study. In contrast, all information

gathered was dealt with strict confidentiality. The respondents were assured that they can withdraw

from the study at any time they intent to.