The Pacific Ring of Fire: A Survey on the Awareness of High School Students and Personnel of St. Mary’s College, Quezon City for S.Y. 2018-2019 on the Different Disaster Emergency Hotlines in the Philippines

Abstract

Recently, the government is giving attention to the disaster readiness and risk reduction strategies of the communities. One of the ways to reach government responders to disasters is to call their designated emergency hotline. In line with the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act or Republic Act 10639, in the event of an impending calamity, mobile phone service providers are mandated to send out alerts at regular intervals as required by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council(NDRRMC), other relevant agencies. The alerts consist of up-to-date information from the appropriate agencies and shall be sent directly to the mobile phone subscribers located near and within the affected areas. In quantitative research, the results are valid, reliable, and generalizable to a larger population. It is all about quantifying relationships between variables (Hopkins, 2000). A cross-sectional design was used since the data is collected at a single point in time. The study was conducted in St. Mary’s College, Quezon City. A total of two hundred ninety-two (292) High School students and eighty-four (84) personnel from St. Mary’s College, Quezon City for S.Y. 2018-2019. For verification, a survey form was given to the Coordinator of the Center forCampus Security and Safety (CCSS) of St. Mary’s College, Quezon City. From the gathered data, the majority of the respondents are familiar with the disaster emergency hotline 911 or the national emergency hotline. The respondents usually get information on these disaster emergency hotlines from news and social media. Moreover, three hundred ten (310) of the respondents believe that it is essential to have enough knowledge of these different disaster emergency hotlines. Most of the respondents believe that it is very important to know the various disaster emergency hotlines so that they would know who to call for help in case a disaster emergency arise. The disaster emergency hotlines 911 and 117 are most familiar to the High School students and personnel. The respondents get the information regarding the different disaster emergency hotlines in the Philippines, mostly through news, social media, and text alerts received before and during disasters to inform people on the events on their surroundings. Most respondents would consider calling the different disaster emergency hotlines in the Philippines because it is helpful since the situation would be assessed by professionals trained for a specific situation, and for them to be aware of what is happening in their area. Most respondents believe that it is vital to know the different disaster emergency hotlines in the Philippines because the agencies will be the one the respondents would call for help in case of emergency and also for their safety.