Measurement of disaster consciousness levels of students in TWO different high schools in malatya city center

Aim: This study aimed to determine the disaster consciousness levels of the students studying in Battalgazi Fatih Anatolian High School and Yeşilyurt Atatürk Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School affiliated to Malatya Provincial Directorate of National Education and to offer suggestions for the situations where deficiencies are found based on the findings. Material and Method: The study is a cross-sectional study conducted on 426 students studying at FAL and AMTL. In the questionnaire we used, socio-demographic characteristics of students, general knowledge questions about disaster, and Disaster Preparedness Scale were used. In statistical analysis, Student t, One Way ANOVA, Chi-Square tests were used, and the significance value was accepted as p <0.05. Results: The total score average of the students is 104.4 ± 13.9, the lowest score is 52, and the highest value is 161. It was observed that 276 of the students (64.8%) were not ready for disasters. The difference between the two groups in terms of self-efficacy scores was statistically significant (p <0.05). The scores of students of Atatürk Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School were found high. In FAL, the relationship between the previous disaster and the total score was statistically significantly higher. (P <0.05) The total score of the students who participated in the disaster exercise was found to be significantly higher than the students who did not participate. (P <0.05) Conclusion: It was observed that most of the students were not prepared for disasters and did not receive any disaster education. The self-efficacy total point average of AMTL was higher than FAL. In this case, it is suggested that more emphasis should be placed on disaster education within the curriculum, and if necessary, children should be informed about the issues such as natural disasters and the risks in of the environment, in the scope of elective courses. Moreover, in order to raise the awareness of disaster among students, their families should be involved in this training process, and the disaster exercises carried out in schools should be increased and repeated on a regular base, and measures should be taken by seeing the deficiencies. Key Words: Disaster, Disaster Awareness, Disaster Education, Disaster Preparedness