Knowledge and Awareness towards Emergency Response Preparedness among Large Worship Centres in South-South Region of Nigeria

Appropriate knowledge and awareness are vital in disaster preparation and mitigation practices to ensure their effectiveness. The study assessed the knowledge and awareness towards emergency response preparedness among large worship centres in the South-South region of Nigeria. Churches with large seating capacity (>1500), indicating large weekend attendance of no less than (1000) congregants that cut across Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Edo states, were selected for the study. With the aid of a questionnaire and descriptive statistics, we collected and analysed the data for the study respectively. The outcome showed that 72.7% of the respondents agreed, “Emergency preparedness and disaster response involve an adequate plan to prevent an occurrence". The worship centres indicated they were well prepared (60.1%) for emergency events with adequate knowledge about various emergencies (60.1%). The findings revealed that worship centres had not witnessed hazardous events recently (58.5%) and perceived electrical damage (53.5%) as the most common emergency at the centres. Mechanical failure (49.1%) was indicated as the primary cause of emergency at the centres, and most respondents to emergencies are volunteers. Overall, there was adequate knowledge and awareness about emergency response preparedness practices among the worship centres. The study recommended the need for worship centres to develop a common, efficient, coordinated multi-sectoral approach comprising all-hazard and hazard-specific measures to ensure preparedness for all types of emergencies.