Introduction: Disaster planning and preparedness is precariously important for individuals, families, organizations and governments. Hospitals are among the first institutions to be affected after a disaster. This creates a heavy burden for the health care team members to physically and mentally prepare to meet the disaster. Aims: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding disaster preparedness among the health care team members. Materials and Methods: Non Experimental Research Design was used, in which Descriptive Survey method was adopted for the study. 200 health care team members were selected by non-probability quota sampling technique. 20 samples from each hospital were selected. A survey was conducted using a self-structured questionnaire, which consisted of 4 sections. Reliability of the tool was found to be 0.83. Results: Findings revealed that, out of 200 samples, majority (78.5%) of the health care team members had average knowledge, 152(76%) had average practices and 184(92%) of health care team members had good attitude regarding hospital disaster preparedness. Association of practices and attitude with selected demographic variables was assessed using Fisher’s Exact Test. There was a significant association between knowledge of health care team members regarding disaster preparedness and the number of beds and association between the attitude of health care team members regarding disaster preparedness and current position of the ownership of hospitals. None of the demographic variables were found to have significant association with practices. Conclusion: The study concluded that the knowledge and attitude regarding disaster preparedness among health care team members is at a satisfactory level. Preparedness and practices are the key assets required in disaster management. Health care team members must respond to both these challenges, if they are to be successful disaster team members.
