Tsunami and Earthquake Symbols and Signs on the Children’s Semiotic Understanding

Abstract

This qualitative research aims at describing the coastal children’s knowledge and perspective about the Tsunami and earthquake’s symbols and signs. The use and purpose of the signs on the warning board is very important for children on the coastal area as an understanding of disaster preparedness. Consequently, the researchers chose 43 respondents with 8-13 years old who live at the coast of Kampung Jawa, Banda Aceh to respond questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire set contained the verbal and non-verbal symbols and signs about tsunami and earthquake which was formulated in the form open-ended questions. It was found that only 12 children who could answer 80% of the questions correctly from the questionnaire. This implies that their understanding and background knowledge about the tsunami and earthquake’s symbols and signs are very low level even though the symbols and signs are put on their enviroment. Moreover, during interview process, children had wrong interpretation about the signs and symbols and did not know the function because they never get information about the symbols, the way to evacuate and preparation before the disaster happened from their school and enviroment. Consequently, it is suggested that stakeholder should conduct practices for disaster education that can improve their disaster awareness.