Environmental Disaster Vulnerability and Preparedness of Angono Rizal: Implications to School Resilience

Authors

  • Domingo Chavez Jr

Keywords:

environmental disaster, vulnerability, preparedness, school resilience, DRRM

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Environmental disaster is an occurrence in which a society or one of its subdivisions undergo physical destruction and social disruptions, such that all or some essential functions of the society or subdivision are impaired. The study purported to investigate the relationship of community vulnerabilities in terms of the presence of physical hazards and natural event risks, and disaster preparedness in terms of capacity building, climate literacy, life skills development of the community and access to resources in Angono Rizal as basis for crafting a DRRM program.

 

METHODS

The study employed descriptive-correlational method. Data were gathered using questionnaires, unstructured interview and documentary analysis. Treatment of data used frequency count, ranking, weighted mean, and Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation.

 

RESULTS

The study revealed that Angono was regularly hit by typhoons and earthquakes and the existence of Laguna Lake and the low-lying areas near silted river allow flash floods. Residents' economic lifeblood was hinged on agriculture and fishery, commercial and manufacturing. Angono has limited manpower and equipment to address natural disaster. Level of vulnerability, for presence of physical hazards and for natural event risks, are high. Seven out of eight items of preparedness were perceived to be strengths, namely: capacity building through DRRM training, capacity building through DRRM education, life skills development on school disaster risk management, access to resources in early warning sign, resources in information and communication facilities; Results also show that preparedness of the town is moderate in terms of climate literacy. The community vulnerability in terms of physical hazards and natural event risks were significantly related to the disaster preparedness of the community.

 

DISCUSSIONS

Angono is a disaster-prone area due to its location, presence of hazards and limited resources such as manpower and equipment to address natural disaster. Level of preparedness of the respondents was high in all aspects except in climate literacy which was in moderate level of preparedness. SCROLL: School-Community Contingency and Readiness towards Operational Leadership of Learners, was crafted aiming to foster school-government-community partnership in strengthening resilience in the municipality of Angono against natural disasters; strengthening the adaptation of a holistic, comprehensive, and proactive disaster risk reduction and management approach.

Published

2019-01-18