Importance of natural disaster education - case study of the earthquake near the city of Kraljevo: First results

Abstract

Natural disasters education is a very important part in the prevention of natural disasters. If it is applied from an early age, it would be successful and will yield positive results, namely to reduce the risks and consequences. A good platform for the implementation of natural disasters education is the formal aspect of education, precisely, subjects in elementary and secondary schools, including the geography as an interdisciplinary science which provides broad opportunities for understanding of all aspects of natural disasters and thus plays an important role in preventing. Given the existing content of natural disasters in the curriculum, as well as in geography textbooks in which mainly deal with natural processes and partly their consequences, we conducted a survey of school-aged children which included checking of acquired knowledge, perception of risk of seismic hazard and response to a specific disaster. Selected territory was the town of Kraljevo, which was hit by an earthquake magnitude 5.4 on November 3rd 2010. The research was conducted through a survey testing of elementary school pupils. The questions are grouped into four segments: issues related to the activities and feeling of pupils "during an earthquake," feelings and activities "after the earthquake", "sources of knowledge about earthquakes" and "tipes of training they need." The results were analyzed by statistical methods, which have proven hypotheses relating to each of the above segments. They showed that only 12% of pupils responded correctly at the time of the earthquake, that 60% of pupils are not aware that their reaction was wrong during the earthquake, the earthquake has left a significant impression on the 61% of pupils and almost all pupils expressed an interest in training on appropriate behavior during disasters. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 47007

The earthquake awareness levels of undergraduate students

“…Knowing how to act during and after an earthquake is necessary to reduce potential damage. It is known that earthquakerelated damages are much less in societies that have enough information of the earthquake risk and possible damages of them in comparison with the societies that do not have necessary information (Panic et al, 2013). The more preparedness and awareness are provided against natural disasters, the more secure the society will be.…”

“…When the literature was examined, studies have been conducted on the psychosocial effects and damages of the earthquake (Bozkurt, 1999;Erkan, 2010;Karancı et al, 1996;Kasapoğlu & Ecevit, 2001;Lutgens et al, 2013;Panic et al, 2013). Also there were studies about the relationship between earthquake and education (Demirkaya, 2007a;Demirkaya, 2007b;Erdoğan, 2007;Johnston et al, 2011;Kaya & Aladağ, 2017;Kayalı, 2018;Ohnishi & Mitsuhashi 2013;Öcal, 2005;Öcal, 2005;Özdemir et al, 2001;Panic, Majkic & Milijanovic, 2013;Sert, 2002;Şimşek, 2007;Tanaka, 2005;Taş, 2003;Vance et al, 1995;Yıldız, 2000).…”

Risk education in Serbia

“…that they slept over mentioned event), which was a characteristic response for secondary schools (within this group, 73% are secondary schools students). More detailed analysis of primary schools student reactions during the Kraljevo earthquake was done by Pani} et al (2013).…”

Local Resilience to Natural Hazards in Serbia. Case Study: The West Morava River Valley

“…Earthquakes were felt in the West Morava River valley, but did not disturb life in it. A Mw = 5.4 earthquake occurred on 3 November 2010 near the City of Kraljevo, in the West Morava valley (latitude 43.765 N, longitude 20.713 E) and was followed by a sequence of more than 650 aftershocks with a magnitude greater than 1.0 [11]. Despite the moderate magnitude of the event, two people were killed, many others were injured, and the total damage to the city is estimated at more than 150 million dollars [12].…”