Awareness and Preparedness Regarding Disasters among Residents of An Urban Slum in Delhi

Abstract

The burden of natural disasters falls most heavily upon developing nations where over 95% of disaster related deaths occur. Urban areas are especially prone to disasters affecting millions of people each year through loss of life, serious injury, and loss of assets and livelihoods. To assess the awareness and preparedness about disasters among residents of an urban slum in central Delhi, a community based cross sectional study was conducted among residents of an urban slum in central Delhi. Hundred subjects were selected with purposive sampling. They were interviewed using a pretested semi-structured questionnaire after taking informed consent. Data was entered in MS-Excel. Results were presented in mean and simple proportions 52% of subjects belonged to age group of 21–30 years. Those belonged to Hindu religion were 52% and 27% were semi skilled workers. 61% of the subjects had knowledge what is disaster. 78% of subjects knew about earthquake but only 69% had knowledge about what they have to do in order to save their life in case there is an earthquake. Helpline number of PCR and fire brigade was known to 90% and 67% of study subjects respectively. The primary source of information about disasters was Television (28%). The present study concluded that the awareness and practices regarding disaster preparedness is not satisfactory among residents.