The implementation of the school disaster risk reduction and management program components of the disaster-prone elementary schools

The schools today are facing a lot of problems regarding the undesirable effects of disasters. Situated in a low–lying area, Butuan City, Philippines gained nationwide attention regarding vulnerability to frequent disasters that cause loss of lives and damaged properties. The Butuan City public elementary schools are no exemptions to this destruction. The researcher took interest on how the disaster-prone schools of Butuan City dealt with the pressing issue. The study focused on the program initiated by the Department of Education, the School Disaster Risk Reduction Management Program. The researcher used both quantitative and qualitative design in the collection of data with 20 disaster-prone elementary schools as respondents. It was found in the study the respondent-schools encountered several problems in the implementation of the School Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Program (SDRRM). In the SDRRM components, it revealed that there was a poor serving entrance for school children, absence of building emergency evacuation, lack of training of the SDRRG members, dearth of equipment, and a discontinuity of instruction. However, the schools make initiatives to mitigate the problems like they improvised unused materials for them to make disaster equipment. They invited resource persons to conduct seminars and training and others would spend their money on the training and seminars. Most of the stakeholders who lack understanding about DRRM gained knowledge on the DRRM concepts by watching television programs and surfing the internet about disaster preparedness.