Construction Research Congress 2022

Past studies have emphasized the impacts of natural disasters on the general community and students; however, they have not focused on analyzing these impacts on students based on their demographic characteristics. As a result, this study identifies how students' demographic characteristics can influence their disaster preparedness and awareness. To accomplish the research objectives existing literature was reviewed, and a structured survey was developed. In total, 111 completed responses were received after distributing the survey among university students. The Kruskal Wallis test was used to analyze the collected survey data and identify significant Disaster Preparedness Indicators (DPIs) based on students' demographic characteristics. The confirmatory Factor Analysis technique was used to investigate primary components associated with DPIs. Next, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to determine the relationships between the identified components. The results indicated that 15 DPIs associated with five-student sociodemographic characteristics (Level of Education, Gender, Ethnicity, Area of Living, and Age) were significant, belonging to four critical components. The results revealed that government/university responsibility, emergency procedures, university curriculum, and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) adoption were critical components for students' disaster preparedness and awareness. The outcomes of this study will help education administrators and curriculum development committees focus on significant DPIs from the perspective of students while developing effective disaster preparedness plans and strategies.