An Empirical Study on Awareness of Disaster Management among Students and Staff of Various Colleges / Schools (With Special Reference to Madurai City)

Abstract

Disaster Management is recently popular in India amid Covid-19 at present. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has been constituted under the Disaster Management Act 2005, with the Prime Minister of India as its Chairman. The Government urged the importance of disaster management strongly and advised all the Academic Staff Colleges to conduct a Refresher Course on disaster management. In this context, it is a need of the hour to analyze the awareness about natural disasters and its management among the teachers and students of higher education. All the world governments are concerned about natural disasters such as Tsunami, Earthquake, Floods, Volcanic eruptions, and strong winds. In 1989, the United Nations General Assembly declared the decade 1990-2000 as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction to reduce the loss of lives and property and restrict socio-economic damage through concerted international actions, especially in developing countries. With the alarming rise in natural disasters and vulnerability, the world community is strengthening its efforts to cope. A questionnaire was administered among the College and School teachers and students, and their answers were analyzed and computed. This study shows that awareness about disaster management should be improved among the teachers and students of higher education. It also reveals that both the students and staff should be given in-service training in general awareness, activities, and administration related to disaster management.