Abstract

Schools in hazard-prone communities serve not only as centers for learning but also as critical hubs for safety, coordination, and recovery during disasters. This study examined the disaster resilience of rural and urban school communities in Oriental Mindoro by assessing existing mechanisms and practices, perceived challenges and barriers, underlying constructs, and the overall level of resilience, to develop a contextualized framework to strengthen school-community disaster preparedness and response. An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design was employed, with the qualitative phase involving 35 school and community stakeholders, including school heads, DRRM coordinators, barangay officials, and parent-teacher association leaders, through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The quantitative phase involved 210 public secondary school teachers, equally distributed between rural and urban schools, using a validated researcher-made survey questionnaire. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, descriptive statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis(EFA), Cronbach’s alpha, and the Mann-Whitney U Test. Findings revealed seven major mechanisms and practices that contribute to building disaster-resilient school communities, along with seven key challenges and barriers. EFA identified four underlying constructs: institutional and adaptive preparedness, community coordination and collaboration, capacity and competence, and structural readiness. Results further indicated that rural and urban schools require sustained investment, regular monitoring, infrastructure improvements, strengthened stakeholder linkages, and the institutionalization of adaptive and proactive DRRM strategies, with both types of schools demonstrating comparable levels of preparedness, capacity, and implementation. Based on these findings, the study proposed the K.A.L.A.S.A.G. ng Mindoreño Disaster-Resilient School Community Framework, which provides a collaborative, adaptive, and systems-based approach to enhancing disaster resilience in school communities.