The role of knowledge and fatalism in college students related to the earthquake-risk perception

Abstract

At present, the earthquake-risk perception research in Aceh only focuses on the general public. Limited research examines earthquake-risk perceptions amongst students. This exploratory study is focused on geography education students because this study programme has integrated disaster education into its curriculum. This study aims to find the extent to which earthquake knowledge and fatalism beliefs affect earthquake-risk perception. The survey was conducted on 210 students using questionnaires. Using the Spearman correlation test, the results of this study revealed that there was a positive and significant relationship between earthquake knowledge and risk perception with coefficients (0.200) and significance (0.004). Meanwhile, fatalism beliefs have a negative and significant relationship to the perception of earthquake risk with correlation coefficient (−0.224) and significance (0.001). This means that the higher the fatalism attitude of students towards disasters, the lower the perception of earthquake risk. It is feared that fatalism will have an impact on the lack of disaster preparedness. Fatalism beliefs are complex issues that require joint efforts from governments, religious leaders, educational institutions and the media to reduce them.