Vol. 5, Issue 1, Part A (2019)

Abstract
The main purpose of this paper was to determine whether or not the secondary school teachers’ level of disaster preparedness is significantly related to the frequency and severity of the natural hazards’ impact in their respective school locales. The descriptive-correlational method was used in this study with 582 school teachers as respondents from the 27 coastal and upland secondary schools in the Congressional District I of Negros Oriental, Philippines. Spearman Rho was used in testing the significant relationship. Findings reveal that the respondents’ level of disaster preparedness is not enough, the frequency of the natural hazard occurrences is generally rare, and the severity of the hazards’ impact is not critical. Moreover, the frequency of the natural hazard occurrences has no effect whatsoever on the respondents’ level of disaster preparedness. Furthermore, the severity of the hazards’ impact and the teachers ‘level of disaster preparedness in terms of awareness of the school community to the threats and impacts of hazards, risks and vulnerabilities, skills of the school community to cope with the negative impacts of a disaster, and capacity of the institution are positively correlated. This suggests that as the severity of the hazards ‘impact increases, the teachers’ level of disaster preparedness also increases. It can be indicated that the experience of personal injury or material losses during a disaster can motivate the people to become more prepared for future disaster events.