A study on the Status of Earthquake Drills for Special Education Classes in Taiwan Elementary Schools

Under the influences of natural disasters, disabled people are often the majority of sufferers when a serious disaster happens. Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (3WCDRR) calls for agencies of the United Nations system, academia, the private sector, civil society, and people with disabilities to integrate the issue of the physically and mentally disabled into the new global framework for disaster reduction. Taiwan is one of the regions in the world where earthquakes occur very frequently. According to the statistics of the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau, an average of 23,000 earthquakes occurs in Taiwan each year, including about 1,000 sensational earthquakes. Earthquake prevention is therefore the essential task for campus disaster prevention and rescue programs. The school should recognize different evacuation abilities for students in special education classes, and know their special needs in earthquake disaster drills and emergency response ability.

In this study, four special education classes in elementary schools were selected as examples to understand the current situation in the engagement with earthquake drills by way of interviews and questionnaires. The evacuation abilities of students in special classes are classified into four categories based on the issues of physical environment, manpower arrangement, and both students’ and teachers’ educations in earthquake prevention. On the basis of the results, the conclusions regarding to those three issues can be drawn as follows. For the first issue concerning the physical environment, the teaching space for special education classes should consider the students’ evacuation abilities. Second, both internal and external support manpower should understand the students' evacuation capabilities and give different assistance based on their abilities. Last, the education goals in earthquake disaster prevention for students in different categories should be different. The earthquake drills should be well arranged in the aspects of time, place, equipment, and manpower assistance. It is important to note that special education teachers and assistants should have good knowledge in earthquake disaster prevention, understand the appropriate response to earthquake disaster, and strive to ensure the safety of students and themselves in the evacuation process.