Track: Engineering Management

Abstract

In the past decade, reported disasters are becoming more severe and the number of deaths also increases.  The impact of disaster could be reduced significantly with enough disaster preparedness.  Most recently, knowledge management has become a key part in disaster management specifically in the disaster preparedness phase.

The aim of the study is to explore how individuals and the communities applied their knowledge in disaster preparedness. A survey method was utilized to measure their disaster preparedness before, during and after the Luzon, Philippines 7.0 magnitude earthquake last July 2022.  From the 46 randomly selected respondents that experienced the said earthquake, the results showed that the majority of the respondents have information about disaster preparedness.  Social media is the biggest source of disaster preparedness information. Roughly, 63% said they have attended training for disaster preparedness in an earthquake. Around 37% of the total respondents stated that they understand disaster risks and disaster-prone locations. Roughly, 30% said they knew the evacuation routes and evacuation procedures in which they lived. During the earthquake, the majority of the respondents were inside a building where they work. Around 96.6% of the respondents took cover under the table to protect them from the earthquake. After the earthquake, the majority of the respondents seek a safe place. It is recommended to have an improved disaster preparedness design to increase participation in disaster preparedness activities.