Abstract

The high mortality rates resulting from the disaster have led to significant losses. This study is of utmost importance as it aims to evaluate the implementation of the four thematic areas of disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) in the Secondary Public Schools located in the Province of Benguet Philippines. The study also aims to identify the variations in implementing DRRM across the participating schools and the challenges and training needs related to DRRM. While the findings indicate a high level of implementation for disaster prevention and mitigation, preparedness, recovery, and rehabilitation, disaster response needs improvement in the implementation. DRRM raises various concerns among institutions, such as lack of budget, multiple tasks assigned to the school DRRM coordinator, and insufficient parental support. However, with the right interventions, these challenges can be overcome. Moreover, public school educators must receive training in the field of DRRM, such as basic life support training, first aid training, contingency training, and incident command systems, which presents an opportunity for improvement. As a result, a lack of resources, emergency supplies, communication systems, and effective response mechanisms will not be delivered, and this can turn out to be disastrous to the learners and the teachers. With this, collaboration needs to be established with other government agencies and the private sector.