Disaster Risk

reduction
and
management
 What is D.R.R.M ?
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Also known as
Republic Act No. 10121; involves devising plans, organizations, and
utilization of skills to minimize the damage caused by hazards and
prevent, disasters. The program also takes steps to prevent new or
increased disaster risks, and the placement Or improvement of risk
reduction policies.
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS
· The concept of disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) accepts that
some hazard events may occur but tries to lessen the impact by improving the
community’s ability to absorb the impact with minimum damage or destruction.

· Disaster risk reduction and management is a series of actions (programmes,

projects, and/or measures) and instruments expressly aimed at reducing
disaster risk in endangered regions, and mitigating the extent of disasters.

· Operationally, DRRM includes risk assessment, disaster prevention and

mitigation and disaster preparedness. It is used to underscore the current
trend of taking a proactive approach to hazards posed by extreme natural
phenomena.
 DEFINITION OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT TERMS
1. Hazards – a situation that poses a level of threat to life, health, property, or
environment.

2. Risks – a probability or threat or a damage, injury, liability, loss, or other negative

occurrence that is caused by external or internal vulnerabilities, and that may be
neutralized through pre-emptive action.

3. Vulnerability – the level of susceptibility or resiliency of the people and

communities against the impact of the prevailing hazards based on the state of
physical, social, and economic conditions in a given area.

4. Disasters – a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society

involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and
impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope
using its own resources.
 DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT: WHAT AND WHO
· Disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) includes administrative
decisions and operational activities that involve: prevention, mitigation,
preparedness, response, recovery, and rehabilitation.

· Disaster risk management involves all levels of government – decision

makers and local government. Non-governmental and community-based
organizations plays a vital role in the process.

· Communities themselves are the first responders.

 DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT CYCLE
· The disaster life cycle describes the process through which emergency managers
prepare for emergencies and disasters, respond to them when they occur, help
people and institutions recover for them, mitigate their effects, reduce risk of loss,
and prevent disasters from occurring.

· The traditional approach to disaster management is to regard it as a number of

phased sequences of action or a continuum. This can be represented as a cycle as
shown in Figure below:
· Disaster management refers to the efficient and effective utilization of resources
and the application of measure that will mitigate the impact of unfortunate events
and facilitate return to normalcy and redevelopment.

1. Disaster management occurs before, during, and after a disaster

2. Disaster management consists of the DRM component as well as relief,
response, early and long-term recovery, including rehabilitation, and
reconstruction.
a. Disaster response, including relief activities, is conducted immediately after a
disaster occurs primarily to save lives and for humanitarian purposes.
B. Building back better during this process means not generating new risks and
mitigating existing ones.
Disaster Risk Reduction Management Paradigm

1. The Disaster Risk Reduction paradigm has become dominant in the twenty-first
century. DRR is proactive by aiming to establish a culture of disaster prevention and
resilience. DRR measures emphasizes non-structural mitigation measures are therefore a
must.
2. Disaster Risk Management is a range of related activities for coping with risk, including
how related activities are identified and assessed and how social interventions to deal
with risk are monitored and evaluated.
3. DRRM is undertaken during “normal times” and before another disaster strikes. It
focuses on the following:

- Mitigation and prevention. This is a sustained measure taken before a disaster occurs
and is aimed to minimize the potential impacts of a disaster or reduce disaster risks.
- Preparedness. This helps reduce severity of impact or certain disasters, particularly
slow-onset disasters. Proactive with risk identification and capacity development.
- Risk assessment (identification and monitoring). The information is generated by this
is essential to the development of non-structural mitigation measures.
Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Framework

· The government pursues a comprehensive disaster management framework that

encompassed disaster risk reduction, mitigation and preparedness in the pre-event, and
disaster response, rehabilitation, and recovery in the post-event.
· A framework that has evolved and adapted to the lessons of past disaster events as well as
emerging concerns, and anchored on the national authority’s program thrusts aimed to, among
others implement the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015, with the five (5) Thematic
Areas/Priorities for action, as follows:

1. Governance. Ensure the disaster risk reduction is a national and local priority with a strong
institutional basis for implementation.
2. Risk assessment and early warning. Identify, assess, and monitor disaster risks and enhance
early warning.
3. Knowledge management and education. Use knowledgeable, innovation and education to
build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels.
4. Risk management and vulnerability reduction. Reduce the underlying factors.
5.Disaster preparedness. Strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels.
GEOGRAPHIC HAZARDS AND DISASTER RISK PROFILE OF THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines, by virtue of its geographic circumstances, is highly

prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
tropical cyclones and floods, making it one of the most disaster prone
countries in the world.
Over the past two decades, the Philippines endured a total of 274
natural calamities, making it the 4th most disaster-prone country in the
world.
Philippines was among the top ten countries with the most number of
people affected by disasters, at 130 billion.
PHILIPPINE DISASTER RISK PROFILE

· The Philippines is vulnerable to almost all types of natural hazards because of its
geographical location.

1. Located within the Circum-Pacific belt of fires and along typhoon path, the
Philippines becomes exposed to natural perils like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
typhoons and their resultant effects like tsunami, landslides, floods, and
flashfloods.

2. As an archipelago with 7,641 islands, the threat of tsunami affecting the

country’s coastal areas is not far-fetched.

3. The Moro Gulf Earthquake with 7.6 intensity triggered a tsunami which affected
Southern Philippines and resulted to the death of around 3,800 persons and
destruction of properties.
PHILIPPINE DISASTER RISK PROFILE

MORO GULF EARTHQUAKE

PHILIPPINE DISASTER RISK PROFILE

4. Yearly, the country experiences an average of 20 typhoons, half of these are

destructive, is a host of 220 volcanoes, 22 of which are active, as well as active faults
and trenches that are potential sources of earthquakes.

5. The country has also its episodes of human-made disasters such as urban fires,
land and sea mishaps, and complex emergency, mostly in Southern Philippines
because of the secessionist movement, coupled with its vulnerability to floods and
other natural hazards.

The Philippines is one of the most natural hazard-prone countries in the world. The
social and economic cost of natural disasters in the country is increasing due to
population growth, change in land-use patterns, migration, unplanned
urbanization, environmental degradation, and global climate change
Reducing the risk of disasters will be the key to achieving the development goals
of the Philippines.
Hazards Classification in the
Philippines
 Natural Hazards

- They are natural processes or phenomena occurring in the biosphere

that may constitute a damaging event.

- It can be classified by origin: geographical, hydro-meteorological, and

biological.
 Natural Hazards
a. Geographical Hazards – natural earth processes or phenomena in the biosphere,
which include geological, neo-tectonic, geophysical, geomorphological,
geotechnical, and hydro-geological nature.
Examples: eathquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity and emissions, etc.

b. Hydro-meteorological Hazards – natural processes or phenomena of atmospheric,

hydrological or oceanographic nature.
Examples: floods, debris and mud flows, tropical cyclones, storm surge, etc.

c. Biological Hazards – process of organic or those conveyed by biological vectors,

including exposure to pathogenic micro-organism, toxins, and bioactive substances.
Examples: outbreak of epidemic diseases
 Technological Hazards
(Anthropogenic Hazards)
- Danger originating from technological or industrial accidents, dangerous
procedures, infrastructure failures or certain human activities, which may cause the
loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or
environmental degradation.

- Examples are: industrial pollution, nuclear activities, or radioactivity

 Environmental Degradation

- It is processed include by human behaviour and activities (sometimes

combined with natural hazards) that damage the natural resource base o
adversely alter natural processes or ecosystems.

- Examples are: deforestation, pollutions, climate change, sea level rise

VULNERABILITY OF URBAN
ENVIRONMENT
The “Vulnerability” perspective in disasters, which is rapidly emerging
as a dominant view in the field, assumes that the real disaster occur
when it strikes an underprivileged population.

· Vulnerability is formally defined as “the characteristics of a person or

group and their situation that influences their capacity to anticipate,
cope with, resist, and recover from the impact of a natural hazard”.
Several elements contribute to urban vulnerability. It is their compounding
and correlated effects that make urban disaster risk reduction a challenge.
These elements can be grouped into the following vulnerability attributes:

1. Unplanned urbanization is having increasingly devastating effect.

Rapidly exploding growth of cities is overwhelming government
institutions with the pressure of urbanization. Much of the growth is
haphazard, far exceeding the cities’ capacity to adequately plan and
control development. As a result, uncontrolled urbanization often
feeds the growth of slums, reinforces poverty, and diminishes cities’
ability to deal with disasters.
2. Continuing social and physical degradation. New migrants and the
underprivileged moved into inner city neighbourhoods where buildings
are old and in poor maintenance conditions; access roads are narrow and
service delivery is difficult. These old buildings and the aging
infrastructures pose a constant threat to their occupants from hazards such
as fires, floods, and earthquakes.
3. Urban risk has been neglected. To a large extent, local authorities have
been ignoring urban risk from extreme hazards. And worse, national
government and international organizations have been neglecting cities in
setting DRR priorities and providing funding support, respectively. The
premise has been that cities, especially megacities, have the capacity to
address risk on their own; however, it is now clear that most cities,
particularly in developing world, are not effectively managing their risk.
4. Damages from climate change will accelerate, as the world gets
warmer. The consequences of climate change will become
disproportionately more damaging with increased warming. Higher
temperature will increase the chance of triggering abrupt and large-scale
changes that lead to regional disruption, migration, and conflict.
5. The link between disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate
change. It is now recognized that reducing disaster risk through the HFA
is the key strategy for climate change adaptation. From the disaster risk
reduction perspective there is growing recognition of two key ideas: the
practical application of adaptation to climate change is risk
reduction, and disaster risk reduction needs to take climate change
into account.
6. Weak institutional arrangements. In most developing countries,
legislative and institutional arrangement inhibit rather than enable local
location. While it is recognized that the disasters are initially local events,
accountability, authority, and resources are not sufficiently-decentralized
to enable local governments to assume ownership and take actions to
manage disaster risk effectively.
7. Lack of political feasibility. Politicians, administrators, and community
leaders all face conflicting priorities, and DRR almost invariably takes the
back seat to other needs which may be considered more pressing or easier
to solve. Risk is not managed pre-emptively, but thought of in terms of
something to be dealt with when disaster strikes through emergency
response and humanitarian assistance.
8. Insufficient knowledge, experience, and capacity. Disaster risk reduction is
complex, and few administrators have experience implementing DRR initiatives.
It takes time, effort, tools, and training to assimilate disaster risk reduction in city
functions and ongoing operations. Significant deficiencies remain throughout
cities and megacities in terms of inter-institutional coordination, warning
systems, incident command and control, resources for response, relief, recovery,
and rehabilitation practice.
9. Lack of acceptable standard of practice. DRM is a professional
practice that still lacks its own set of acceptable standards of practice. This
result in a dispersion of effort and an ineffective use of resources. It also
erodes the political support for local level action on DRR. Providing tools to
enable translating national policies into mainstreaming planning processes
at the local level would help cities in understanding the options that are
available to them for managing risk and for planning and implementing
urban DRR.
Hence the way forward to create a Safer World are:
A. Recognizing the Environmental Sustainability is a must for
stopping a disaster.
B. Recognizing that Social Sustainability along with development
is necessary for good Risk Reduction.
C. Recognizing information as a form of disaster in its own right.
D. Supporting better access to information and communication
along with technology for vulnerable communities.
E. Building a partnership for sharing information with
communities, local governments, media, telephone companies
and industries.

F. Women and men of all ages from disaster affected areas and
wider local populations, including vulnerable groups should
receive information about the assistance programme and are
given the opportunity to comment to the assistance agency
during all stages.