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Despite disasters being extremely disruptive to campus life and affecting students both mentally and physically, college students are one of the most overlooked sub-groups in the community following a disaster. It is, therefore, crucial for disaster risk reduction (DRR) to be implemented in universities, where disaster preparedness, response, and mitigation strategies and programs are still lacking even though disaster awareness has increased. This study aims to investigate disaster awareness and preparedness of university students and develop a framework within which to measure the level of their disaster preparedness. To fulfill the objective of this study, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to understand how knowledgeable and prepared students are for disasters. The review provided the basis for the development of a comprehensive survey that was distributed through an online platform. After two follow-ups, 111 survey responses were collected and analyzed, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Based on the analysis, a framework was developed, linking the characteristics of students with different levels of DRR education. It was found that the students’ perspectives of the responsibility of friends, parents, and university and/or government agencies to provide for their safety during a disaster are formed by personal characteristics (male or female, graduate or undergraduate, educated or uneducated about disaster preparedness, etc.). It was also observed that graduate and undergraduate students have significantly different opinions about the adequacy of the first aid boxes at their university, and students with prior disaster …