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Chapter 1

Earthquakes and Calamities in Davao City

Davaoeños against Quakes: A Research about the

Preparedness and Resiliency of the People of Davao City against
Earthquakes and other Calamities

Rationale

The Philippines is one of the countries in the world that is highly susceptible

to various types of natural hazard due to the geographical location of the

country; being situated in "The Pacific Ring of Fire", between two Tectonic plates

(Eurasian and Pacific) where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are

happening. The location of a country is a major aspect for the possible

occurrence of any disasters. For centuries, nations have built strategies and

different disaster preparedness programs for the safety of their people in case

they encounter devastating disasters such as earthquakes. Anywhere in the

world earthquakes can happen, it cannot be predicted and prevented.

Globally, there are 500,000 detectable earthquakes recorded in the world

each year according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). In daily life

where such phenomenon happens, people who are concern tend to check and

monitor any observable earthquake. On the 12th day of January year 2010, a 7.0

magnitude earthquake ravaged Haiti. According to the Haitian government, an

estimated 230,000 people were killed. In just a split second, an earthquake can
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hit a particular region. When the earthquake hit a certain area, the buildings,

infrastructures and even the natural environment are prone to risk of having

great chances of total and partial destruction. It may cause panic to the people

and may give them traumatic experiences that can be hard to forget. The

phenomenon cannot be predicted and that frightens every nation and at the

same time, giving awareness to the people.

In the Philippines, there are 5,065 earthquakes recorded in the first six

months of the year 2019. According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and

Seismology (PHIVOLCS), there are five quakes that exceeded to magnitude 5

which resulted casualties to all vulnerable buildings and infrastructures.

Preventive measures and preparations are conducted by the local government

units in the country to ensure the safety of the community.

Locally, Davao city suffered from numerous aftershocks these past few

months. The recent nearest earthquake to the city was reported on the 29 th of

October this year. A magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit Bukidnon on Monday night,

November 18, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and

Seismology (PHIVOLCS). Davao city is prone to earthquakes. Davao has

experienced at least 114 earthquakes in the past 365 days. That is why the city

has preparations and practical approach for the people so that they will have

knowledge when they encounter such tragedies, that can also slows down the

country’s development because of the expenses from preparing and recovery

from disasters.

In any earthquake, it is not tremor that kills people but the destruction of the
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buildings and other infrastructure that are constructed by using faulty designs,

cheap quality materials and negligence of the authority to implement the national

building code. The intensity of an earthquake is measurable by the effects of it to

the people, infrastructures, and natural environment. There is nothing but the

humans that can think of a solution and prevent the worse things to happen. The

people should never underestimate what the disasters could do to devastate a

certain area, even if it is just minor or as huge as nobody had expected.

According to experts, it can be deadly if the people did not prepared for it. They

do not know what might happen anytime, only thing they can do is to be always

prepared. They need to understand the importance of readiness and disaster

management for future purposes.

The efforts to build and formulate an effective preparedness strategies and

drills in any place prone to disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and

typhoons, have to be mutually important to both the government and the

community itself. It is the responsibility of the government to protect and to give

enough assistance to the people who are affected by any disasters. In proportion

to the help provided by the government, the people in the community must have

the knowledge and the ability to initiate by themselves in times of any seismic

activity. The continuous efforts among the government and the various

stakeholders are necessary to be effective in benefit to the improvements of the

preparedness and public awareness in the country.

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Purpose of the Study

The study aims to impart information about the disasters and the different

approaches that the school adminstration can possibly use to reduce the impacts

of such events. This also aims to review the preparedness of the students,

teachers and staff in response to the inevitable occurrence of disasters such as

earthquake.

The researchers conducted the study to manifest the importance of disaster

preparedness to the students of Holy Child College of Davao. This study might

also help the school by promoting independence and initiatives to act in case of

emergency situations while waiting for the assistance of the administrators.

The disaster such an earthquake is unpredictable, that is why the

researchers aims to broaden the knowledge of the students about the

preparedness existing and to be made with the help of this study.

Research Questions

Most of the earthquakes are destructive and some are not felt by the people.

The citizens of Davao are worried that there might be more earthquakes that will

occur in the future. That gave the researchers reason to conduct this study. The

study tends to answer how effective is the preparedness of the local government

of Davao when it comes to disasters. This includes how resilient the Davaoeños

during the aftermath of a disaster, the strategies used by the people who are

concerned about any disaster, and participation of the community during

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seminars that gives information and advices what to do before, during and after

an earthquake.

Theoretical Lens

A disaster is “a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a

society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses

and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to

cope using its own resources”(Najafe,2017). According to many studies

conducted on disaster preparedness, several factors affecting preparedness

include: critical awareness, risk perception, preparedness, perception, self-

efficacy, collective efficacy, locus of control, fatalism, anxiety, previous disaster

experience, societal norms, sense of community, community participation and

empowerment, optimistic and normalization biases, social trust, perceived

responsibility, responsibility towards others, coping style, and available

resources. The Theory of Planned Behaviour by Icek Ajzen (1980) can be

applied in the domain of disaster risk reduction. The behavior of interest for

present purposes is DPB. According to Ajzen, considering Disaster

Preparedness Behavior (DPB) as a category of behaviors, not a single action

was studied. The behavioral elements of the public readiness index (PRI) were

used for defining and assessing the DPB.

It is hypothesized that intentions to do DPB can be predicted from attitudes,

subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control with respect to the behavior;
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and that actually doing DPB can be predicted from intentions and perceptions of

behavioral control. The prediction of DPB, however, depends on the

chronological stability of intentions and perceived behavioral control. If these

variables change prior to observation of the behavior, they can no longer permit

accurate prediction.

The theory adds in the idea of perceived behavior control. In this concept

the perception of controlling the outcome of a behavior is added as the extent

that a person believes that they have control over the outcome of a health

behavior has been found to have significant relation to the adoption of health

behaviors (DiClemente, Salazar, & Crosby, 2013b).

Looking at the strength of effect on these factors can help give an

understanding to those evaluating behavior changes. Disaster management

officials use the theory of planned behavior change to not only understand why

behavior change does or does not occur, but to also develop and implement

programs that will help in the preparedness of the society they handle.

Significance of the Study

This study can be helpful in other areas, not just the school. To the students,

this study will provide information for them to maintain how the current

preparedness statusof the School works and may improve it in the future.

To the future researchers, they will gain information and can be used as

their reference when they conduct related study pertaining to how the students
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faced different challenges during an earthquake evacuation, such as earthquake.

As for the school administrators, this study may help them improve their

disaster planning and persuade the students to participate in every

preparedness drills to lessen the casualties.

Definition of Terms

Davaoeños - term called for the people of Davao City

Disaster - something that happens suddenly and causes much suffering or

loss to many people.

Earthquake - the collision of the Earth’s tectonic plates that often causes

great damages to the ones in the surface due to the shaking of the ground.

Magnitude - the number that shows the power of an earthquake

Preparedness - the ability of knowing what to do and being knowledgeable

enough in case of any harmful events.

Resiliency - the ability to recover from a devastating event such as an

earthquake.

Research Design

The researchers conducted the study by the use of phenomenological

method. A phenomenology is an approach to qualitative research that describes

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the meaning of a lived experience of a phenomenon for several individuals,

which in this case is the experience of performing earthquakes drills and the

different responses of the students. Basically, it is defined as the study of a

certain phenomenon that is related to the study. The purpose is to describe the

different insights and experiences within a particular group. The fundamental

goal of the approach is to evaluate a description of the nature of the related

phenomenon (Creswell, 2013). A research should focus on the wholeness of

experience and a search for essences of experiences. The transcendental

phenomenology (TP), largely developed by Husserl, is a philosophical approach

to qualitative research methodology seeking to understand human experience

(Moustakas,1994)

The process of a research involves emerging questions and procedures,

data is typically collected from the participants, and the researcher making

interpretations of the meaning of the collected data (Creswell, 2007).

Research Participants/Materials

The participants of this study will be a convenience sample of 2 randomly

selected students from each floor in Senior High School department. The

students may be of any strand and section. The researchers conducted the

study by using an in-depth interviewing strategy with the research participants.

In-depth interviewing is a qualitative research technique that involves conducting

intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents to explore

their perspectives on a particular idea, program, or situation. Individuals who are

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not studying in Holy Child College of Davao - Mintal Campus will be excluded.

Data Collection

Instruments

In collecting data for this study, an interview was conducted to the

random (8) senior high school students. The interview was an in-depth analysis

between the researchers and the (8) student at same time.

Process

Before conducting the interview, the participants were informed about

the research and the research questions the researchers aim to answer with the

help of the responses given by the target respondents. The interview was then

conducted after the consent were given to the researchers.

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Davaoeños against Quakes: A Research about the

Preparedness and Resiliency of the People of Davao City against
Earthquakes and other Calamities

__________________________________________

A Qualitative Research
Presented to the Senior High School Department
of Holy Child College of Davao – Mintal Campus
___________________________________________
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in
Practical Research 1
__________________________________________
Arnaiz, Dan Floyd L.
Baynosa, Warren L.
Dejito, Charles Daniel O.
Mallo, Joseph Louise D.
Muega, Emmanuel L.
Paspie, Frederick Hans T.
Ramilo, Erick D.
Paican, Juhannah S.
Pelesores, Christine Cecille B.

(March, 2020)