Knowledge of appropriate behaviour during an earthquake is crucial for prevention of injury and loss of life. The Israeli Home Front Command conducts a yearly earthquake education programme in all Israeli schools, using three types of educational interventions: lectures, drills and a combination of the two. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions in providing students with knowledge. We distributed a questionnaire to 2,648 children from the 5th and 6th grades in 120 schools nationwide. Knowledge scores for both 5th and 6th grades were increased, regardless of type of intervention, compared to the non-exposure group. A combined intervention of lectures and drills resulted in the highest knowledge scores. Our findings suggest that for the age group studied a combination of lectures and drills will likely prepare students best for how to behave in the event of an earthquake.

Perceptions, knowledge and mitigation are factors that might play a role in preventing injury and loss of life during a major earthquake.(2) Little is known about the relationships between different demographic and educational parameters and these factors. A national representative sample of 495 adults was investigated in order to determine the relationship between demographic and educational parameters in terms of the perceived threat, perceived coping, knowledge and mitigation of earthquakes in Israel. Compared to females, males perceived the threat of earthquakes to be lower (t = 3.183, p = 0.002), manifested higher levels of perceived coping (t = 2.55, p = 0.011), and had higher levels of earthquake related knowledge (t = 2.047, p = 0.041). We conclude that there are gender differences in perceptions and knowledge regarding earthquakes.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract