Online Disaster Preparedness Application for Kids

Abstract

Philippines was highly experiencing earthquake in 2017, based on Phivolcs the biggest aftershock is at 6.5 magnitude. Local government and other private organizations conduct a generalized earthquake drill to prepare individuals in case of an event of disaster. Education plays an important role during disaster since most of the children spend 6 hours during daytime inside the school premises. Simultaneously, priority has been given to equipping older school children and their teachers with the necessary information and skills to shield themselves from the consequences of sudden onset natural hazards. For young children, the disaster risk reduction discourse has been almost completely silent. Today students are being addressed as digital natives or digitally incline individuals and as such basic educational institution plays a very important role in bridging the gap of technology and user. We would like to propose an online disaster preparedness application specifically for elementary school students to impart to them through video, games and lectures the concept and drills for disaster preparedness. To identify the effectiveness of the proposed methods researchers used quantitative approach. Initial findings show that positively the proposed application and methods are effective and as such recommended to be included as part of the classroom activity and curriculum.