NEW ERA UNIVERSITY

College of Arts & Sciences

DISASTER RISK REDUCTION MANAGEMENT

MODULE- 3 THE DISASTER PLANNING & MANAGEMENT

FOCUS: SCHOOL COMMUNITY

Introduction

This module aims to introduce to the students the varied approaches to disaster
events being undertaken by academic institution as well as the government and non-
government agencies. This will provide them the opportunity to contrast, differentiate
and synthesize all valuable activities which they might engage into in future events in
their respective communities. The students can develop greater understanding of the
characteristics of different disasters, the principles behind planning being done by
varied institutions in all the phases of disaster management that include; disaster
preparedness, mitigation, response and rehabilitation or recovery.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the Module, student should be able to:

A. Contrast the General Approaches to Disaster Planning.

B. Explore activities involved in different Phases of Disaster Management
C. Integrate the Characteristics of Disaster to actual situation on the
Philippines
D. Reflect on the Principles of Disaster Planning to personal insight &
experiences
Lesson-1 GENERAL APPROACHES TO DISASTER PLANNING
(Focus of Educational Institution)

The Emergency Management Plan (EMP) of an educational institution and its

corresponding Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Strategic activities are in
cognizant with its noble tradition to realize its vision to serve & protect the welfare of its
stakeholders in particular and the humanity in general. (Alvarado, 2014)

The EMP is patterned and formulated from the national government’s Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Committee (DRRMC). It is practically an on-scene
disaster response and management mechanism applicable to all levels of clients
utilizing the “All hazards” approach to disaster management.

The plan contains the description of its operational arm; the Incident Command
System (ICS). The objectives of this system include the following:

1. To provide and ensure a safe and healthful environment for students, faculty,
employees, administrators and other guests of the university.

2. To build a disaster resilient academic and non-academic communities by

reducing disaster risk and vulnerability through a more organize & concerted
efforts of systematic disaster assessment, planning and interventions.

3. To strengthen the capacity of the university to withstand any form of

natural and manmade disasters affecting the academic institution through
enhanced disaster preparedness and response capabilities at all levels.

4. To save lives and protect properties during emergency situations.

5. To stabilize and restore normal university operations that were affected

brought about by the untoward events or incidences.
 The overall emergency plan is considered to be centralized but well-
coordinated incident action plan that guides all response activities in all stages of
disaster management. It provides a concise, coherent means of capturing and
communicating the overall incident priorities, objectives, strategies, and tactics in the
context of both operational and support activities.

Although the plan is written comprehensively but the execution is made simple,
practical, and easily understandable by the members of the educational community.
DRRMC believes that manageable span of control complemented with students’
discipline is one of the most distinct characteristics of academic community. The
academic community therefore is expected to understand that the more they grasp and
understand the empirical meaning and significance of every disaster event in the past,
the more effective and efficient they can help to respond.

The EMP assigns responsibilities to significant members of functional response

desks and details the overall strategies to prepare, respond, recover (short-term), and
mitigate from all emergencies or events that may jeopardize the safety of university
students, faculty, staff, administrators and visitors, and threaten the university’s assets
and property.

The EMP provides general guidelines for common emergency events affecting the
academic institutions. The plan is divided into 3 PARTS:

1) AGENT-SPECIFIC APPROACH – focuses their preparedness activities on the

most likely threats to occur anytime based on their geographical location. Also
called contingency planning.

The Agent Specific Approach (Contingency Plan) details how the

University will apply its Contingency Plan to a particular hazard or disaster in
the University premises. Aside from the general plan, handouts and other reading
materials are made to complement the information & educational campaign.
 2) ALL-HAZARDS APPROACH –incorporates disaster management components
that are consistent across all major types of disaster events to maximize
resources, expenditures, and planning efforts. Also called Strategic Planning.

The All-Hazards Approach (Strategic Plan) describes how the

University will enact several emergency functions that are common to all
hazards. They also assign lead and support responsibility to departments or
divisions for maintaining and enhancing the University’s ability to perform those
functions. Preparing plan for all types of hazards can also be called “One size
fits all” disaster management.

(All-Hazards mean any incident, natural or human-induced, that warrants action

to protect life, property, environment, public health, or safety and minimize
disruptions of school activities and functions.)

3) FORWARD PLANNING – advance planning of activities in response to a

known imminent danger, usually man made like external or internal political
conflicts /war that do not normally occur in the community.

The EMP is based on previous faculty researches and basic survey analysis of
common hazards, vulnerabilities within the campus area, and operational capabilities of
each department necessary to protect the students, staff, administrators, visitors, and
its properties.
Lesson 2 PHASES OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE

1) Disaster preparedness – the capacity to effectively anticipate, responds

to, and recovers from the impacts of hazardous events or conditions. This
includes such activities as contingency planning, stockpiling of equipment and
supplies, development of arrangements for coordination, evacuation drills, and
associated training.

2) Mitigation comprises the preparations taken to lessen the effects of a

disaster. Mitigation may take the form of physical improvements, such as
infrastructure improvements & organizational pre-planning. Mitigation is any
planning and preparations taken to minimize the effects of manmade or natural
disasters. It may take several forms like the following sample activities:

 The levies built along rivers to control flooding or storm basements

for shelter during tornadoes are examples of mitigation.
 Building codes requiring buildings to meet certain standards that
reduce the chance of fire and contamination and improve structural safety
are another. In earthquake prone areas, these codes require that
structures meet standards that will minimize damage and danger during
an earthquake.
 Stockpiling food, water, medicine, and other supplies is
another form of mitigation and preparation. Stockpiling may be as
simple as individuals or families developing a personal preparedness plan
 or as complex as development of the federal government’s stockpiles of
medications, vaccines, food, water, and other supplies for large disaster
response.
 Mitigation also takes the form of organizational efforts and planning.
Organizing in anticipation of what may occur is essential to mitigating the
effects of disasters. Hospitals, schools, other institutions, and
governments should develop organizational charts showing who has
authority and knowledge to respond; assigning areas of responsibly to
prepare for and respond to a disaster. These organizational charts
become very complex, but they allow roles of individuals within the
hospital or other setting to be delineated and they establish clear lines of
authority. Organization allows individuals, families, institutions, and
governments to mount an orderly and effective response to any event
even as it overwhelms the available resources.
 An important aspect of mitigation is risk assessment. The risk
assessment identifies what events the individual, community, state, or
nation is at risk for.

3) Response is the organized or unorganized action taken during and

immediately after the event. Its purpose is to save life, limb, and property.
Response is carried out in an unorganized manner by the victims
themselves, called self-rescue, or in an organized manner as in the case of
local and national disaster response personnel, skilled rescuers.

 The response phase is the mobilization of forces during and

immediately after an event to save life, limb, and property. It is both an
organized response by trained personnel and a grassroots effort by
victims who may be able to help themselves and those around them. Its
effectiveness is dictated by the scope of the event and preparations made
during the mitigation phase.
  Response is first performed by victims and trained rescue
personnel within and close by the event. Trained rescue personnel and
untrained volunteers from nearby areas not severely affected by the event
will respond next.

4) Recovery is the effort to return to normalcy after a disaster. It is usually a

long, difficult process. Recovery is complicated by several factors including
finances and personal freedoms. The cycle then continues. Lessons learned
from the event and an analysis of the effectiveness of preparations and
response help to mitigate the next event.

 The recovery phase begins after the response phase ends. More
realistically, the response phase fades out as the recovery phase fades in.
 The recovery phase is the slow return to normal life after a
disaster. Although normal life may not be the same as it was before the
disaster, life has changed from the intense efforts to save life, limb, and
property. During this time, victims will begin to move from shelters back to
their homes or into temporary housing. Permanent housing will be re-
established.
 Utilities will begin to be restored and food, water, fuel, and other
necessities will be available, though possibly not at pre-disaster levels.
Schools, business, and local government will slowly begin to function
again.
 Many aspects of life taken for granted before the disaster may have
changed or may have disappeared entirely.
 The health-care system; municipal services including the fire
service, law enforcement, the courts; and Emergency Management
System (EMS) should be priorities. Each is essential to the care of people
as they return. Disasters may destroy essential structures and equipment
for hospitals, municipalities, EMS, and the fire service. All may have lost
 personnel; they will certainly be overwhelmed. Returning each of these to
functional status should be a priority.

Lesson 3 CHARACTERISTICS OF DISASTERS

There are several significant characteristics used to explain and describe
different types of disasters. These characteristics are interdependent and
interconnected. One cannot completely describe a disaster phenomenon without
identifying other underlying characteristics and these are all important in creating,
planning and managing disaster event.

A. Frequency: This refers to how often a disaster occurs. Some disasters occur
relatively often in certain parts of the world. Tropical cyclones / storms, which
occur with variable frequency between months of June and November. However,
because of climate change, the occurrence of typhoons has become more
variable than in previous years. Earthquakes occur periodically throughout the
world. Our country runs along the so called “Ring of Fire’, which encircles the
Pacific Ocean and volcanic eruptions (World Atlas, 2012). The Philippine Institute
of Volcanology and Seismology (PHILVOCS) records daily earthquakes
occurring in different parts of the country with variable intensity, with only a very
small proportion of the quakes felt by the people (Summerlin, 2012).

B. Predictability: This relates to the ability to tell when and if a disaster, such as
floods, may be predicted based on the expected volume of rainfall, sometimes in
conjunction with tide changes. Weather forecaster can predict when conditions
are right for the development of typhoons and with the monsoon rains. These
generally occur between June and November, but climate change has made their
occurrence more variable (Summerlin, 2012). Because of advancement in
technology, weather forecasters can predict hurricanes with increasing accuracy
but other disasters like fires and industrial explosions may not be predictable at
all
C. Preventability: This is a characteristic indicating that actions can be taken to
avoid a disaster. Some disasters (e.g., typhoons and earthquakes) are not
preventable, whereas others can be easily controlled if not prevented entirely.
For example, flooding can be controlled or prevented through proper refuse
disposal, maintenance of waterways, control of indiscriminate logging, and
construction of infrastructure for flood control.

a. Primary Prevention: aimed at preventing the occurrence of a disaster or

limiting consequences when the event itself cannot be prevented. Primary
prevention occurs in the non-disaster and pre-disaster stage refers to the
period immediately before the disaster or when a disaster is pending.
Preventive actions during the non-disaster stage include assessing school
community to determine potential disaster hazards, developing disaster
plans at institution or local level, conducting drills or emergency response
practices to test plans, training volunteers and health care providers, and
providing educational programs of all kinds related to disasters.

b. Secondary Prevention: aimed at implementing strategies once the

disaster occurs. Secondary prevention actions include search, rescue, and
triage of victims and assessment of the destruction and devastation of the
area involved.

c. Tertiary Prevention: focuses on recovery of the school community, that

is, restoring the university to its previous level of functioning and its
students, faculty and staff have restored their maximum capacity to work
and perform. This level of prevention also aimed at preventing a
recurrence or minimizing the effects of future local disasters.

D. Imminence: This refers to the speed of onset of an impending disaster and

relates to the extent of forewarning possible and the anticipated duration of the
incident. Weather forecasters can tell when a weather disturbance may be
 developing days ahead of its expected arrival and can give the approximate time
of arrival, the general direction it will take, and the location for its landing and
forward movement. Weather disturbances like typhoons, however are subject to
other weather variables and can change direction and intensity several times
before actual landfall.

E. Scope and number of casualties: The scope of a disaster indicates the range
of its effect. The scope is described in terms of the geographic area involved and
in terms of the number of individuals affected, injured or killed. From a health
care perspective, the location, type, and timing of a disaster event are predictors
of the types of injuries and illnesses that might occur. For example, several
factors brought about contrasting effects of TS Ondoy in 2009 and TS Sendong
in 2011

The casualty count of TS Ondoy totaled to 1,030, with 464 deaths (NDCC,
2009). The widespread flooding caused by TS Ondoy in 2009 happened in
Luzon during the daytime. In addition to the fact that flood waters started to rise
during the daytime, floods occur frequently in many areas in Luzon like Metro
Manila and Central Luzon. People were more conscious of tropical cyclones
causing floods.

F. Intensity: This refers to the characteristic describing the level of destruction and
devastation of the disaster event. Tropical cyclones that affect the country are
categorized according to intensity in terms of wind speed near the center of the
cyclone.
 TABLE- 3: RELATIVE MAGNITUDE OF COMMON TYPES OF DISASTER
EVENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES BASED ON THEIR CHARACTERISTICS

CHARACTERISTICS TYPHOON EARTHQUAKE FIRE BIOLOGICAL/DISEASE

OUTBREAK

FREQUENCY (-) HIGH MODERATE LOW HIGH

PREDICTABILITY (+) HIGH LOW LOW MODERATE-HIGH

PREVENTABILITY (+) LOW LOW HIGH HIGH

IMMINENCE (+) HIGH MODERATE LOW HIGH

SCOPE & NO. OF

CASUALTIES (-) HIGH MOD. TO HIGH LOW TO MOD. TO HIGH
MOD.

INTENSITY (-) Variable Variable RELATIVE RELATIVE

(Multifactoral) (Multifactoral)

(SOURCE: J. Alvarado, NEU-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Committee,2014)

Lesson 4 PRINCIPLES OF DISASTER PLANNING

1. Plan should be proactive and realistic

2. Measures usually taken are not sufficient for major disasters
3. Plans should be adjusted to people’s need
4. Planning does not STOP with the development of written plan
 5. Lack of information causes inappropriate responses of the community
6. People should be able to respond with or without direction
7. Plan should coordinate efforts of the entire community or stakeholders
8. Plans should be linked to surrounding areas
9. Plans should be general enough to cover all potential disaster events
10. Plans should be based on everyday work methods and procedures
11. Plans should specify a person’s responsibility for implementing segments by
position or title rather than by name
12. Plan should develop a record keeping system before a disaster occurs,
regarding:
 Supplies and equipment
 Records of all people within the institution at any given time (to account for
anyone missing)
 Identification of victims and deceased, conditions and treatment documented,
and to which facility victims are sent

13. Back up plans need to be in place for the following:

 Disruption of telephone and cell phone lines
 Disruption of computer data (should be downloaded weekly and stored
off site).
 Protecting essential public health functions (e.g., vital records and
communicable disease data)

ASSIGNMENTS FOR MODULE-3: Please check NEUVLE for more updated

assignment.

VLE

 Writing of prototype news reports script

containing Disaster Characteristics &
 Principles of Disaster Planning  News Writing Rubric

ASSESSMENT EXAM: Check the QUIZ embedded in NEUVLE

REFERENCES

DR-101 Basas, R. A. (2016). Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction. Manila: JFS
Publishing Services.

DR-102 Beach, M. (2010). Disaster Preparedness and Management. Philadelphia: F.A.

Davis Company Inc.

DR-106 De Guzman, F.R. & Suarez, D.A.M. (2016). Disaster Readiness & Risk
Reduction. Quezon City: Vibal Group, Inc
DR-113 National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan (NDRRMP), Congress
of the Philippines, R.A. 10121, Philippine Disaster Risk and Management Act.
2010.
DR-117 Rimando, R. (2016), Disaster Readiness & Risk Reduction, 1ST Edition, Rex
Publishing Company, Manila.

DR-120 Summerlin, E.B.8, (2011), Disaster Management ,C&E Publication, Manila

DR-123 United Nations. Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 –
2030.Geneva Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations International Strategy f or
Disaster Reduction, 2015.

DR-128 Alvarado, J. (2014). NEU Disaster Preparedness & Management Manual,

personal account for NEU Disaster Risk Reduction Management Center.