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The Role Of Geomorphology In The Education And Knowledge Related To Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) In Croatia

Geomorphology is highly related to education on natural hazards and disasters. The study of earthquakes, landslides, floods etc., is crucial for vulnerability and risk assessments as well as disaster risk reduction (DRR). Thus the incorporation of geomorphologists into the national/regional/local groups of experts to establish adequate strategies of risk assessment and management is highly recommended (Alcańtara- Ayala, 2002). But for resilient society, education on natural hazards and disasters on all educational levels is crucial. According to Dunbar (2007) education on geomorphologic phenomena and processes and its outreach are important factors in increasing public awareness on geological hazards and risks. Numerous initiative and campaigns, especially UNISDR campaign "Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School” 2006-2007, has also shown the importance of DRR integration into formal education and community participation as a way of creating a sustainable community (Shaw et al., 2011). 2007). In Croatia, the education on natural hazards is partially integrated in the Geography curriculum, trough the basic geomorphology related topics (volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, drought, floods). This study presents the results of the first systematic research on the education and knowledge related to DRR in Croatia. In order to examine current state of knowledge and awareness on natural hazards amongst general population and the contribution of Geography/Geomorphology in the process of gaining basic knowledge on natural hazards, survey was conducted among 1104 randomly selected respondents (general population). Survey questions were focused on level of knowledge on hazards which are most relevant for Croatia ; flood and drought as their occurrence is high and damages and losses are major (Ministry of Finance 2019), and earthquake since Croatia is situated in a seismic active area (Ivančić et al. 2018). Questionnaire was produced in printed and digital form using the LimeSurvey. There were two-type of questions, closed and open-ended. The latter gave the persons answering the question an opportunity to answer appropriately and the surveyors to understand if the respondents understood the topics truly. Five point Likert type scale (ranging from 1-strongly disagree to 5-strongly agree) was used to examine the public's opinion on individual statements. Data were analysed by descriptive statistics. Since the survey was conducted on National level, the representative number of respondents needed to be determined. In order to gain reliable results (population sizes by margin of error at a 95%, Fowler 1984, Schuman and Kalton 1985) a standard formula was used considering the valid rule: the larger the number of members of the population, the smaller proportion of that population should be represented in the sample (Fowler 1984, Cohen et al. 2011). According to Krejcie and Morgan (1970) sample of 384 respondents (0, 038%) needs a population sample of a million members to make it representative, i.e., its reliability would be 95%. According to the Census 2011, Croatia had 4 284 889 inhabitants (CBS 2011). Given that 1104 citizens were surveyed, the share of the population participating in the survey was 0.026%. According to the CBS (2011), there is 3 346 514 inhabitants at the age group 18 to 95. Since all the respondents were part of that age group the share of population participating in the survey is 0.033%. Therefore, the sample covered by this survey is considered to be reliable. When selecting subjects for the representative sample, a modified snowball method (Goodman, 1961 ; Atkinson and Flint, 2004) was used, based on a targeted selection of the circle of people who then extended the sample. A sample of snow- covered subjects of both sexes, ages from 18 to 95, of varying in degrees of education, was tested. This paper analyses only a part of the results obtained considering questions based on the premise that people are generally familiar with natural hazards but not the DRR and that Geography as school subject, and consequently Geomorphology, has a significant role in natural hazard and DRR education. In the first question respondents were asked to answer whether they have encountered so far the term natural hazard. Analyses determined 96% of the respondents so far encountered the term. This data is not surprising since recently there were great damage caused by floods (eg. Eastern Croatia in 2014) and droughts (eg. Eastern and Southern Croatia in 2017) (Ministry of Finance, 2019) and Croatian media reported on all the natural hazards. Respondents that are not familiar with the term are mainly senior citizens. However, when we analysed the role of Geography as a school subject in the process of gaining knowledge on definition of natural hazards, the results are alarming. Namely, 5.3% of respondents stated they gained some knowledge on natural hazards in primary schools and 5.7% chose secondary school. Conversely, analyses of the significance of Geography as a school subject in gaining basic knowledge on particular hazard ; flood, earthquake and drought, most respondents consider that the role of geography is substantial (Table 1) regardless of age groups. Table 1 The significance of the role of Geography (school subject) in gaining knowledge on flood, earthquake, and drought Geomorphologic process Very Low Low Neutral High Very High Flood 82 224 337 264 197 Earthquake 50 122 253 366 313 Drought 93 220 308 279 204 Note: n=1104 The highest significance is related to the earthquakes (62%) while for drought and floods the significance is alike (44% and 42 % respectively). Such result is in good concordance with the current curriculum (Ministry of Science 2006, 2011, 2015, 2020) and formal textbox in use, where earthquakes are only topic properly addressed while drought and flood are merely mentioned and heavily depend on the teachers' willingness and ability to involve those topics in his or her teaching. Based on the respondent’s opinion it can be concluded that Geomorphology has substantial role in present Croatian Geography curriculum which provides a fair amount of basic knowledge and information about abovementioned hazards as natural processes but lacks the connection with the aspect of hazards, disasters and preparedness, i.e. is not enough DRR related.

Geomorphology, education, Disaster Risk Reduction, Croatia

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