Element of Disaster Risk Reduction in Geography Education in Malaysia

Abstract

Currently, there are many natural disasters such as floods, landslides, earthquakes, and climate change. These disasters certainly affect the conditions of human life from economic, social, and environmental perspectives. Therefore, it is necessary to take preventive action and learn so that people understand the potential for disasters and how to deal with them. The geography education curriculum is one of the subjects that contains topics on disaster education, but this has not been carried out thoroughly in Malaysia. This study analysed the types of natural disasters and elements of priorities for action in reducing disaster risks, based on the Sendai framework. The data were collected from the Ministry of Education Malaysia, namely Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Menengah (KSSM) of Geography form 4 and 5 Secondary School, geography textbook form 4, and geography textbook form 5. The data were analysed by a qualitative method with a content analysis approach. All documents were analysed with a focus on disaster risk reduction materials, based on the Sendai framework. As a result, the geography education curriculum for secondary schools in Malaysia has included these types of natural disasters: earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, droughts, hurricanes, and volcanoes. It also includes four elements of priority action for disaster risk reduction, albeit with an uneven composition. Overall, this study has shown that elements of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) were included in the geography education curriculum for secondary schools in Malaysia.