Although children are exposed to a high mortality risk during disasters, what determines their disaster response, especially during earthquakes, remains largely unexplored. The goal of this study is to examine the association between formal education and earthquake response. Using a unique survey collected from elementary school students in the coastal villages of Indonesia, we show that students’ attitude to learning science is positively associated with their risk perception, perceived coping ability, knowledge about the disaster mechanism and response, and propensity to respond appropriately. Parents’ disaster experience also significantly affects these outcomes. In contrast, attitude to religious class explains none of outcomes. Locus of control is associated with perception and knowledge, but not the response. Our findings suggest that the effects of education on the disaster mortality of children could vary with the school curriculum.

尽管儿童在灾难期间面临很高的死亡风险，但决定他们的灾难响应（尤其是在地震期间）的很大程度上仍未得到开发。本研究的目的是检验正规教育与地震反应之间的联系。通过对印度尼西亚沿海村庄小学生的一项独特调查，我们发现学生对科学的态度与他们的风险感知，感知的应对能力，对灾难机制和响应的了解以及做出适当响应的倾向呈正相关。父母的灾难经历也严重影响了这些结果。相反，对宗教阶层的态度却不能解释任何结果。控制源与感知和知识相关，但与响应无关。