Research by: Ardvin Kester S. Ong, Yogi Tri Prasetyo, Fae Coleen Lagura, Rochelle Nicole Ramos, Keenan Mark Sigua, Jomy Anne Villas, Michael Nayat Young, John Francis T. Diaz, Satria Fadil Persada, & Anak Agung Ngurah Perwira Redi
Executive Summary
The Philippines is a country prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes. It is surrounded by 5 active faults: Western Philippine Fault, the Eastern Philippine Fault, the South of Mindanao Fault, Central Philippine Fault, and the Marikina/Valley Fault. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) recorded an average of 20 earthquakes per day and almost 100-150 of them are felt each year.
The lack of studies on Filipino’s preparedness in natural calamities such as earthquakes posed the necessity to address this problem. The country is located in an earthquake prone area that makes them experience a lot of massive earthquakes than usual. Protection Motivation Theory and Extended Theory of Planned Behavior was used because it is widely used in disaster research for measuring the knowledge of people about the disaster and their willingness to prepare for it. The study considered 727 valid responses from Filipinos to measure the intention to prepare. Eight latent were measured namely: (1) perceived vulnerability, (2) perceived severity, (3) subjective norm, (4) perceived behavioral control, (5) attitude, (6) media, (7) understanding of The Big One, and (8) intention to prepare.
The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) method found that Media, Attitude, Perceived Severity and Subjective Norm are all key factors affecting the intention of the people to prepare for the Big One. Moreover, it is also found that the Understanding of the Big One has an indirect effect on the intention to prepare. It is recommended that the improvement in earthquake preparedness in the Philippines should focus on educating the Filipinos on the things they need to do before, during, and after an earthquake. It is also necessary for them to be aware of the danger and casualties it may cause as it greatly affects their willingness to prepare. Media, as one of the most significant factors in affecting the attitude, should be a way to inform people to possibly mitigate the effects of The Big One in the country.
Despite its promising findings, the current study has some limitations. The authors of the current study acknowledge the fact that the location of the respondents was not determined while conducting the online survey. The only respondent’s descriptive characteristics collected on the survey were: (1) gender, (2) age, (3) education, (4) monthly allowance, (5) accessibility to health insurance, and (6) familiarity to The Big One. Since the Big One only hits the West Valley Fault in Metro Manila, individuals outside the area have lesser or zero understanding pertaining to the subject. Consequently, the absence of respondents’ location has led to different results as it could change the weight of other factors. This could be an area where future researchers could focus on. It is suggested to measure the intention of the Filipinos within the vicinity of the West Valley Fault. The model of the study could also be utilized by other researchers to evaluate other types of natural disasters and the findings of the study can be used as a comparison by other researchers of the same field.
To cite this article: Ong, A. K. S., Prasetyo, Y. T., Lagura, F. C., Ramos, R. N., Sigua, K. M., Villas, J. A., Young, M. N., Diaz, J. F. T., Persada, S. F., & Redi, A. A. N. P. (2021). Factors affecting intention to prepare for mitigation of “the big one” earthquake in the Philippines: Integrating protection motivation theory and extended theory of planned behavior. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 63, 102467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102467
To access this article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102467
About the journal
The International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (IJDRR) is the journal for researchers, policymakers and practitioners across diverse disciplines: earth sciences and their implications; environmental sciences; engineering; urban studies; geography; and the social sciences. IJDRR publishes fundamental and applied research, critical reviews, policy papers and case studies with a particular focus on multi-disciplinary research that aims to reduce the impact of natural, technological, social and intentional disasters. IJDRR stimulates exchange of ideas and knowledge transfer on disaster research, mitigation, adaptation, prevention and risk reduction at all geographical scales: local, national and international.
