Children's disaster knowledge, risk perceptions, and preparedness: A cross-country comparison in Nepal and Turkey

Effectiveness of Activity Supported Earthquake Awareness Education Program in Primary School Children: "I Know What I Need to Do, I'm Not Falling Even If We Shake" Project

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to enhance the knowledge base of primary school children regarding earthquake preparedness through the implementation of an activity-based earthquake awareness education program.

METHODS

The study was conducted as pre-posttest semi-experimental design with one group of 333 children in a primary school between January and May 2024. A Descriptive Information Form and Earthquake Awareness Knowledge Level Form were the data collection tools. The children were provided with a 6-week (modules) education program. Measurements were made before and after the education.

RESULTS

The mean age of the children was 7.16 ± 0.73 years (6-9), 56.8% were girls, 43.2% were boys, and 25.8% were second-grade children. Earthquake Awareness Knowledge Level Form total score was higher after the education (18.31 ± 1.52) than before (15.51 ± 3.73) (t = -16.144, p < 0.001). The study revealed an increase in children's knowledge regarding appropriate behaviors in the context of earthquakes, encompassing actions to be taken before, during, and after such events.

CONCLUSION

Modular education and applied activities are effective in increasing children's knowledge levels in the context of teaching a concept such as earthquake preparedness, where the acquisition of life-based skills is of paramount importance.

Exploring the disaster experiences and psychosocial support needs of children affected by the Kahramanmaras earthquake in Turkey through drawing narratives

BACKGROUND

On February 6, 2023, a catastrophic earthquake struck the Kahramanmaras region in Turkey. Among the most vulnerable demographic groups in the wake of such disasters are children. To provide effective psychosocial support to these young individuals, it is crucial to gain a comprehensive understanding of their specific needs resulting from the earthquake experience.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to determine the disaster experiences and psychosocial support needs of children between the ages of 7 and 12 who were affected by the Kahramanmaraş earthquake in Turkey with drawings.

METHODS

This research used a descriptive qualitative design, employing purposive and snowball sampling approaches to select 32 children aged 7-12 for the study. Thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the data, revealing six distinct themes as expressed through the drawings of school-aged children. The reporting in this study followed the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ).

RESULTS

These six themes are associating precipitation with earthquakes, security and relocation, emotional chaos, expressing the earthquake symbolically, death and physical damage and longing for normalcy.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the importance of acknowledging and attending to children's requirements through psychosocial interventions tailored to their age.

IMPLICATION TO PRACTICE

It underscores the complex nature of the psychosocial needs of children impacted by earthquakes and promotes collaborative efforts among healthcare professionals and nurses to provide more effective support to these children during challenging circumstances.

Preparing children to cope with earthquakes: Building emotional competence

Natural disasters, including earthquakes, can have a traumatic impact on children's psychological wellbeing and development. The efficacy of interventions aimed at enhancing children's socio-emotional learning has been documented in the literature. At the same time, these techniques are the key for training children for possible future disasters by enhancing their knowledge about behavioural preparedness and emotional competence. However, research on evidence-based training programs on earthquakes combining digital and traditional activities is scarce. We tested the efficacy of a 10-unit training program for primary school children, developed within the Emotional Prevention and Earthquakes in Primary School (PrEmT) project. The program aimed at increasing knowledge of and metacognition about earthquakes, safety behaviours, emotions, and coping strategies, through digital (using the web-application HEMOT® , Helmet for EMOTions, developed ad-hoc) and traditional activities (completing paper-and-pencil tasks). The participants were 548 second and fourth-graders from Italian schools. They were divided into an experimental group (participating in the training program) and a control group. Both groups participated in pretests and posttests to evaluate changes in their knowledge of training-related contents. For ethical reasons, we also measured children's wellbeing. Generalized linear mixed models indicated an improvement in the experimental group's knowledge and metacognition about earthquakes, safety behaviours, emotions, and coping strategies after the training program, compared to the control group. Children's general wellbeing did not deteriorate during participation in the project. The results documented the efficacy of the evidence-based training program developed within the PrEmT project. The program provides a preventive method for enhancing earthquake-related resilience that could be generalized to other kinds of disasters.

Natural multi-hazard risk perception and educational insights among Geography and Tourism students and graduates amid the Covid-19 pandemic

Multi-hazard risk perception is an emerging research topic that has been gaining more and more interest since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, due to the unprecedented interactions between the management practices of the pandemic and of other co-occurring natural hazards, and to the compounded impact of these multi-hazards. This paper aims to investigate the specialization and study level-dependent differences concerning multi-hazard risk perception and hazard-related education insights of future potential specialists in natural hazard-induced risk management and tourism reconstruction. These differences were explored by applying a multi-layer questionnaire on 547 Geography and Tourism students and graduates from two universities in Iași City (Romania) and Novi Sad (Serbia), and performing descriptive and differential statistical analyses. The statistically significant differences that emerged refer to estimations of the impact level of the Covid-19 pandemic and of other natural hazards at different spatial scales and on different socio-economic activities, on the training/career of the respondents, and to the hazard-related education improvements. Up to date, none of the papers in the existing literature integrate both the Covid-19 pandemic and the co-occurrent natural hazards as objects of students' perception, which makes the present study a starting point for such research endeavours.