CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
1.1.0 BACKGROND OF THE STUDY
“The earth provides enough to satisfy one’s need but not everyone’s greed”
Mahatma Gandhi
When disaster strikes or conflict flares, people are sometimes forced to flee. Their
vulnerability increases; their needs are great. They need help to rebuild their lives and
livelihoods, recreate the social networks that help bolster their resilience and feel secure again.
The World Disasters Report highlighted, the complex nature of disasters and conflicts and their
potential to uproot large numbers of people. Haiti, Japan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, the Horn of
Africa, Mali and now Kerala, witnessed major population displacement within and across
borders. Other factors, such as population growth, rapid urbanization, increasing poverty and
inequality, hazardous and environmentally contaminated sites, global climate change, new
technological hazards, all combine to accentuate vulnerability and increase the propensity for
forced displacement to occur. Disasters are affecting mankind from ages. The disaster events
concern every community and no community is immune from it. According to the Greek
Philosopher Empedocles, the universe consist of five elements the Earth, Fire, Air, Sun and
Water from which come the manifestation of violence such as Earthquake, Volcanoes,
Cyclones, Droughts and Floods. The root of the word disaster ("bad star" in Greek) comes from
an astrological theme in which the ancients used to refer to the destruction or deconstruction
of a star as a disaster.
Oxford English dictionary states that the word disaster derives from the 16th century French
word “desastre”, which is a combination of two terms 'des' meaning bad or evil and 'astre'
meaning star. The expression of term disaster is bad or evil star. The word “disaster” readily
gives an apparent meaning to the general public, but giving a precise definition to the same is
actually a difficult task. Therefore any attempt to define the “disaster” would draw the criticism
of either being too broad or too narrow. Disasters are often natural, unforeseen circumstances
resulting in severe psychological, social and emotional consequences. A disaster means, a
catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or manmade
causes or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering
or damage to and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and
is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the
affected area (Indian Disaster Management Act, 2005). Disaster strikes anytime, anywhere. It
takes many forms - a hurricane, an earthquake, a tornado, a flood, a fire or a hazardous spill,
an act of nature or an act of terrorism. It builds over days or weeks, or hits suddenly, without
warning. Every year, millions of people across the globe face disaster and its terrifying
consequences. Be it an ‘act of God’ or ‘act of Man’, a mindboggling spectrum of disasters
wreaks havoc in the Indian sub-continent. Disasters are either natural, such as floods, droughts,
cyclones, and earthquakes, or human made such as riots, conflicts, refugee situations, and
others like fire, epidemics, industrial accidents, and environmental fallouts. Often, the
difference between them is marginal (Parasuraman S. & Unnikrishnan P. V., 2001).
‘Education means an all round drawing out of the best in the child- body, mind and spirit’
Stress should be laid on principles of co-operative activity, planning, accuracy, initiative and
individual responsibility in learning’ -Mahatma Gandhi
Education is identified as one of the most effective instruments to meet various
individual, social, economic, political, technological and cultural challenges. Education is
expected to provide strength to individuals through development of positive attitudes, values,
along with knowledge and various skills. Education provides efficient planners, administrators,
executives and professionals required by a particular society to fulfil its need from time to time.
The quality of human resources can be improved by providing necessary skills, knowledge and
capacities to people in the society. In economic terms, it may be described as the accumulation
of human capital and effective investment in the development of an economy. In political terms,
it may be said that preparing people for adult participation in the political process. From cultural
and social point of view, the development of human resources helps people to live the life at
its fullest and richest.
The goal of education efforts is to change people’s behavior. Disaster education
attempts to increase protective actions by people by presenting information about the hazard
and the risk it poses. If planned effectively and well implemented, it will make, in long run,
people habituate safety practice in all forms of their action. Similar to the common public health
matters, citizen should be able to practice basic precautionary and remedy measures by
themselves leaving only specific and more detail information to ask to experts and
professionals. However, the desired changes in behavior may take long time.
1.2.0 NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Disaster management is very important to survive in the case of a natural or a major
man-made disaster and can be denned as the organization and management of resources and
responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies, in particular
preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of a sudden disaster. The
damage caused by disasters is immeasurable and varies with the geographical location, climate
and the type of the earth surface/degree of vulnerability. At times there can be disasters where
there is no loss of human life and at times these can also cause a huge loss of life and property.
This influences the mental, socio-economic, political and cultural state of the affected area. A
disaster can be caused by human activities or due to some natural changes. Disasters are events
that are unpredictable most of the times. It is important for any government, state or community
to manage disasters by being prepared for it in advance. Government provides legislation,
allocates resources and does rational planning and sustainable development. Disaster
management and planning is a key part of government work and an issue to be taken up
seriously by the concerned authorities. Disaster management aims to reduce the occurrence of
disasters and to reduce the impact of those that cannot be prevented. The government White
paper and Act on Disaster Management define the roles of Local Authorities as well as
Provincial and National government in disaster management. Disaster management forces
come into action as soon as a disaster strikes and helps out in relief, rescue and rehabilitation
process. These are trained individuals, and are given extensive training to perform in the event
of a disaster or a natural calamity and they work as a team to reduce the loss of life and helping
the locals getting back to normal life.
1.3.0 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The study is entitled “AWARENESS ON DISASTER MANAGEMENT AMONG
SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS”
1.4.0 OBJECTIVES
1. To assess the knowledge of the secondary school students of Thattamala school regarding
disaster management.
2. To assess self expressed practices of secondary school students of Thattamala school
regarding disaster management.
3. To find out effectiveness of conducing seminar on disaster management among the
secondary school students of Thattamala school.
4. To correlate the knowledge of secondary school students of Thattamala school regarding
disaster management with self expressed practices
1.5.0 HYPOTHESES
Following hypotheses were formulated by the Researcher for the study:
a. There is no significant knowledge among the high school students of Thattamala school
regarding disaster management
b There is no significant self expressed practices among the high school students of Thattamala
school regarding disaster management
c. There is no correlation between knowledge and self expressed practices of high school
students of Thattamala school regarding disaster management.
1.6.0 METHOD