Disaster risk reduction management assessment capability, preparedness, and emergency response competence among school heads: Inputs to a contextualized contingency toolkit

Abstract

This developmental study aimed to ascertain the disaster risk reduction assessment capability, preparedness, and emergency response competence of the school heads of DepEd- Schools Division of Guimaras and develop a contextualized contingency toolkit. It involved the 92 purposely selected public elementary and secondary school heads and private school administrators as participants and the validated researcher-made data-gathering questionnaire to obtain the data: (1) DRRM Assessment Capability Questionnaire to measure the capability of the school heads to determine the risk factors; (2) DRRM Preparedness to determine the precautionary measures and undertakings implemented before the occurrence of hazard; and ( 3) Emergency Response Competence to measure the level of competence to respond in emergency situations. Frequency counts, percentage analysis, mean, standard deviation, and rank were employed as descriptive statistics. The results revealed that public elementary and secondary school heads and private school administrators are highly capable of risk assessment, well-prepared, and highly competent in emergency response. The most dominant assessment capability of school heads and administrators were " conducting monitoring and evaluation of DRRM programs, understanding the Site Development Plan and its use" and "ensuring the availability of updated baseline data of the school" and the least predominant were skills "maintaining and strengthening of lifeline systems such as electricity, communications, transportation, and water supply, and estimation the life span of the school equipment", The most dominant DRRM preparedness were "utilizing the DepEd Order on suspension of classes during inclement weather" and ''posting a directory of emergency contact numbers of relevant government agencies and other officials" and the least predominant were "'capacitating student-led watching team within the school'''' and "preparing localized school policies, guidelines and standards on disaster preparedness". School heads are highly competent in emergency response in terms of managing people and school personnel rendering duty and coordinating with the Local DRRM Team. School heads are competent in providing the basic needs of the teachers and learners in the teaching and learning materials for learning continuity, and reporting damages in school using RADaR. App. A contextualized contingency planning toolkit was proposed based on the result of the study. The responses of the respondents were gathered and consolidated and indicators that least contributed to the assessment capability,, preparedness and emergency response were addressed in the toolkit. A Contextualized Contingency Planning Toolkit was developed to guide the school heads and administrators in formulating the school contingency plan. The toolkit was composed of five parts and was rated outstanding by experts in terms of its physical attributes, objectives, content, usefulness, and self help features. It is recommended that private school administrators will be capacitated through trainings and workshop on risk assessment, implementing necessary preparations before the occurrence of hazard and develop competence in delivering response in case of’ emergency. Public school heads and private administrators may use the toolkit that will guide them in formulating the school contingency plan. i