Disaster Risk Reduction Management

OVERVIEW

Our country, the Philippines is exposed to both
climatic and geological hazards which is presently
situated in the Pacific Ring of Fire where two
major tectonic plates, the Pacific Plate and the
Eurasian Plate meet. This includes several fault
lines crossing the country, earthquakes could
have very devastating effects. There are 220
volcanoes, 22 of which are classified as active
based from the report from NDCC in 2008.
Based from the United Nations Disaster Relief
Office (UNDRO), there is an increasing number of
people who are affected by disasters all over the
world. Not only the poorest of the countries are
afflicted with disasters but also the richest
countries in the world. In the Philippines, mostly,
the poor communities are the ones to suffer
damages brought about by strike of disaster and
calamities.

Definition:

DISASTER – a situation or event, which

overwhelms local capacity, necessitating a
request to national or international level for
external assistance; an unforeseen and often
sudden event that causes great damage,
destruction and human suffering.”

Center for the Epidemiology of Disasters,

Brussels

1. Natural Disasters
a. Earthquakes/tsunamis
b. Landslides
c. Typhoons
d. Floods
e. Drought
f. Volcanic Eruptions
2. Human-made Disasters
a. Air and water pollutions (“red tide”)
b. Industrial accidents (“oil spills”)
c. Fire
Our country is also located along the typhoon belt d. Civil disturbances
on the North Pacific Basin in the Pacific where 75 e. War
percent of the typhoons originate. Almost 20 to 30 f. Poverty
typhoons passing through the country, 5-7 of g. Bomb threats
which can be consider destructive (NDCC 2008) h. Accidents like transports, nuclear or
resulting to an extreme rainfall events that causes biological
flash floods and landslides.