S2 Q3 DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION Therefore and Other Purposes'' was passed and

approved on May 27, 2010 after 21 years of

Lesson 1.1 revisions and refiling in the two legislative

Basic Concept of Disaster bodies.

● This new law, unlike the previous Presidential

and Disaster Risk Decree P.D. 1566, is pro-active in giving

importance to disaster
preparedness measures.
mitigation and
● Disaster is "a sudden, calamitous occurrence
that causes great harm, injury, destruction, and
devastation to life and property".
● It disrupts the usual course of life, causing both
Natural disaster hazard
physical and emotional distress such as an
intense feeling of helplessness and - A natural - A hazard is a source
hopelessness. phenomenon is or condition that has
● A preceding definition of disaster stresses that caused by natural the potential to
two elements are affected - life (whether forces, such as cause harm to
human or animal) and property. earthquakes, humans in the form
○ The effects vary, typhoons, volcanic of injury or illness,
■ it may be minor damage (like broken eruptions, property damage,
windows and doors), hurricanes, fires, environmental
■ major damage (like torn rooftops, tornados, and damage, or a
collapsed walls), extreme combination of
■ total destruction (like completely temperatures. these.
destroyed houses and structures - They can be
rendering them useless and inhabitable) classified as rapid
■ and the worst scenario, it can lead to onset disasters and
death. those with
progressive onset,
● According to the Food and Agriculture such as droughts
Organization (FAO, 2008), disaster is a serious that lead to famine.
disruption of the functioning of a community or a - These events,
society involving widespread human, material, usually sudden,
economic or environmental losses and impacts, can have
which exceeds the ability of the affected tremendous effects.
community or society to cope using its own
resources." a) A natural hazard occurs when an extreme
● Any adverse episode or phenomenon can natural event is destructive to human life and
exploit a vulnerability in the affected population property. This event could interfere with
or community to create damage and this activities in a minor way such as when strong
awareness will form the basis for an adequate winds blow trees down, or this event could
intervention. completely disrupt activities like a large
● Meanwhile, the United Nations International earthquake damaging your home, business or
Strategy for Disaster Reduction defines school These natural events have been
disaster as a serious disruption of the happening for thousands of years (a long time
functioning of a community or a society involving before we were even around!), but they only
widespread human, material, economic or become hazards when humans are affected
environmental losses and impacts, which in some way.
exceeds the ability of the affected community or
society to cope using its own resources. b) Human-made induced hazards are caused
● Disasters are often a result of the combination by human activities. Unlike natural hazards,
of the exposure to a hazard; human made hazards can often be prevented.
○ the conditions of vulnerability that are Examples:
present; and 1. Technological/industrial disasters
○ insufficient capacity or measures to reduce - Unregulated industrialization and
or cope with the potential negative inadequate safety standards increase
consequences. the risk for industrial disasters.
● Its impacts may include loss of life, injury, - Examples: leaks of hazardous
disease and other negative effects on human materials; accidental explosions;
physical, mental, and social wellbeing, together bridge or road collapses, or vehicle
with damage to properties, destruction of collisions; Power cuts
assets, loss of services, social and economic 2. Terrorism/Violence
disruptions, and environmental degradation. - The threat of terrorism has also
● Republic Act 10121 also known as "An Act increased due to the spread of
Strengthening the Philippine Disaster Risk technologies involving nuclear,
Reduction and Management System, Providing biological, and chemical agents used
for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and to develop weapons of mass
Management Plan, Appropriating Funds, destruction.
 - Examples: bombs or explosions;
release of chemical materials, release
of biological agents; release of
radioactive agents; multiple or
massive shootings, mutinies.
3. Complex humanitarian emergencies
- The term complex emergency is
usually used to describe the
humanitarian emergency resulting
from an international or civil war.
- In such situations, large numbers of
people are displaced from their
homes due to the lack of personal
safety and the disruption of basic
infrastructure including food
distribution, water, electricity, and
sanitation, or communities are left
stranded and isolated in their own
homes unable to access assistance.
- Examples: conflicts or wars and
Genocide: the deliberate killing of a
large group of people, especially
those of a particular ethnic group or
nation
The damage caused by the disaster cannot be
measured. It also differs with the kind of
geographical location, climate, earth's specific
characteristics, and level of vulnerability. These
determining factors affect generally the
psychological, socio-economic, political, and
ethical state of the affected area.
Risk
- Risk has various connotations within different
disciplines.
- In general, risk is defined as the combination
of the probability of an event and its
negative consequences.
- The term risk is thus multidisciplinary and is
used in a variety of contexts.
- It is usually associated with the degree to
which humans cannot cope (lack of
capacity) with a situation (e.g. natural
hazard).
Disaster Risk
- The term disaster risk refers to the potential
(not actual and realized) disaster losses, in
lives, health status, livelihoods, assets, and
services which could occur in a community or
society over some specified future time
period.
- Disaster risk is the product of the possible
damage caused by a hazard due to the
vulnerability within a community.
- It should be noted that the effect of a hazard
(of a particular magnitude) would affect
communities differently.
- It can also be determined by the presence of
three variables:
- hazards (natural or anthropogenic);
- vulnerability to a hazard;
- and coping capacity linked to the
reduction, mitigation, and resilience to the
vulnerability of a community.
Lesson 1.2
RISK FACTORS UNDERLYING
DISASTERS
Disaster risk has three important
elements such as:
1) Exposure – the elements at risk from a
natural or man-made hazard event.
2) Hazard – a potentially dangerous physical
occurrence, phenomenon, or human activity
that may result in loss of life or injury,
property damage, social and economic
disruption, or environmental degradation.
3) Vulnerability – the condition determined by
physical, social, economic and
environmental factors or processes, which
increase the susceptibility of a community to
the impact of hazard.
Risk Factors
● Reduction of the level of vulnerability and
exposure is possible by keeping people and
property as distant as possible from
hazards.
● We can not avoid natural events from occurring,
but we can concentrate on addressing the
reduction of risk and exposure by determining
the factors causing disasters.
● Risk Factors are processes or conditions, often
development-related, that influence the level of
disaster risk by increasing levels of exposure
and vulnerability or reducing capacity.
● The following are also taken into consideration
when risk factors underlying disaster are
involved:
○ Severity of exposure – which measures
those who experience disaster first hand
which has the highest risk of developing
future mental problems, followed by those in
contact with the victims such as rescue
workers and health care practitioners and
the lowest risk are those most distant like
those who have awareness of the disaster
only through news.
○ Gender and Family – the female gender
suffers more adverse effects. This worsens
when children are present at home. Marital
relationships are placed under strain.
○ Age – adults in the age range of 40-60 are
more stressed after disasters but in general,
children exhibit more stress after disasters
than adults do.
○ Economic status of country – evidence
indicates that severe mental problems
resulting from disasters are more prevalent
in developing countries like the Philippines.
 Furthermore, it has been observed that
natural disasters tend to have more adverse
effects in developing countries than do
man-caused disasters in developed
countries.
Factors which underlie disasters:
1. Climate Change
- Can increase disaster risk in a variety of ways
○ by altering the frequency and intensity of
hazards events,
○ affecting vulnerability to hazards, and
○ changing exposure patterns.
- For most people, the expression "climate
change" means the alteration of the world's
climate that we humans are causing such as
burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and other
practices that increase the carbon footprint
and concentration of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere.
- This is in line with the official definition by the
United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNCCC) that climate change
is the change that can be attributed "directly or
indirectly to human activity that alters the
composition of the global atmosphere and
which is in addition to natural climate variability
observed over comparable time periods"
2. Environmental Degradation
- Changes to the environment can influence the
frequency and intensity of hazards, as well as
our exposure and vulnerability to these
hazards.
- For instance, deforestation of slopes often
leads to an increase in landslide hazard and
removal of mangroves can increase the
damage caused by storm surges.
- It is both a driver and consequence of
disasters, reducing the capacity of the
environment to meet social and ecological
needs.
- Over consumption of natural resources results
in environmental degradation, reducing the
effectiveness of essential ecosystem services,
such as the mitigation of floods and landslides.
- This leads to increased risk from disasters,
and in turn, natural hazards can further
degrade the environment.
3. Globalized Economic
Development
- It results in an increased polarization
between the rich and poor on a global scale.
- Currently increasing the exposure of assets in
hazard prone areas, globalized economic
development provides an opportunity to build
resilience if effectively managed.
- By participating in risk-sensitive
development strategies such as investing in
protective infrastructure, environmental
management, and upgrading informal
settlements, risk can be reduced.
- Dominance and increase of wealth in certain
regions and cities are expected to have
increased hazard exposure
4. Poverty and Inequality
- Impoverished people are more likely to live in
hazard-exposed areas and are less able to
invest in risk-reducing measures.
- The lack of access to insurance and social
protection means that people in poverty are
often forced to use their already limited assets
to buffer disaster losses, which drives them
into further poverty.
- Poverty is therefore both a cause and
consequence of disaster risk, particularly
extensive risk, with drought being the hazard
most closely associated with poverty.
- The impact of disasters on the poor can, in
addition to loss of life, injury and damage,
cause a total loss of livelihoods, displacement,
poor health, food insecurity, among other
consequences.
- Vulnerability is not simply about poverty, but
extensive research over the past 30 years has
revealed that it is generally the poor who tend
to suffer worst from disasters.
5. Poorly planned and Managed
Urban Development
- A new wave of urbanization is unfolding in
hazard-exposed countries and with it, new
opportunities for resilient investment emerge.
- People, poverty, and disaster risk are
increasingly concentrated in cities.
- The growing rate of urbanization and the
increase in population density (in cities) can
lead to creation of risk, especially when
urbanization is rapid, poorly planned and
occurring in a context of widespread poverty.
- Growing concentrations of people and
economic activities in many cities are seen to
overlap with areas of high-risk exposure.
6. Weak Governance
- Weak governance zones are investment
environments in which public sector actors are
unable or unwilling to assume their roles and
responsibilities in protecting rights, providing
basic services and public services.
- Disaster risk is disproportionately concentrated
in lower-income countries with weak
governance.
- Disaster risk governance refers to the
specific arrangements that societies put in
place to manage their disaster risk; within a
broader context of risk governance.
- This reflects how risk is valued against a
backdrop of broader social and economic
concerns.

7. Geographical Location
- The Philippines is one of the most
vulnerable countries in the world to natural
disasters.
- The country's location makes it vulnerable to
storms that cause flooding, mudslides, and
typhoons.
- Furthermore, the Philippines is vulnerable to
tsunamis due to the presence of offshore
trenches such as the Manila Trench.
Regrettably, the list does not stop there.
- The Philippines also sits above the Ring of
Fire, a path that runs through the Pacific
Ocean basin.
Certain factors are related to a survivor's
background and recovery is hampered if
survivors:
- were not functioning well before the disaster;
- have no experience dealing with disasters;
- must deal with other stressors after the
disaster;
- have low self-esteem; feel uncared for by
others;
- think they exercise little control over what
happens to them; and
- unable to manage stress.
More factors contribute to worse outcomes:
- death of someone close;
- injury to self or family member;
- life threat;
- panic, horror, or similar feelings; separation
from family;
- massive loss of property; and
- displacement.
Lesson 1.3
DISASTERS AND ITS EFFECTS
● A disaster is a damaging event that occurs
suddenly and involves loss of life and property. It
can be of two types, natural and man-made:
a) Natural disasters can destroy a whole
community in an instant. Examples of
natural disasters are:
○ volcanic eruptions,
○ tsunamis,
○ earthquakes, and
○ typhoons which are destructive to
people's lives.
b) Man-made disasters on the other hand
are caused by human beings. They are
identified as man-made disasters because
they happen due to human actions and not
by natural forces. Some of the man-made
disasters are:
○ bomb explosions,
○ terrorism.
○ wars,
○ leakage of poisonous chemicals,
○ pollutions,
○ industrial accidents, and
○ epidemics.
What is the difference between hazard
and disaster?
● A hazard is a dangerous situation or event
that carries a threat to humans.
● A disaster is an event that harms humans
and disrupts the operations of society.
● Hazards can only be considered disasters
once it affects humans. If a disaster
happens in an unpopulated area, it is still a
hazard.
The Human Effect of Natural and
Man-Made Disasters
1. Displaced Populations
- One of the most immediate effects of
natural disasters is population
displacement.
- When countries are ravaged by
earthquakes or other powerful forces of
nature, many people need to abandon
their homes and seek shelter in other
regions.
- A large influx of refugees can disrupt
accessibility of health care and
education, as well as food supplies and
clean water.
2. Health Risks
- Aside from the obvious immediate danger
that natural disasters present, the
secondary effect can be just as
damaging.
- Severe flooding can result in stagnant
water that allows breeding of waterborne
bacteria and malaria-carrying
mosquitoes.
 - Without emergency relief from
international aid organizations and
others, death tolls can rise even after the
immediate danger has passed.

3. Food Scarcity
- The aftermath of natural disasters affects
the food supplies.
- Thousands of people around the world
are hungry because of destroyed crops
and loss of agricultural supplies, whether
it happens suddenly in a storm or
gradually in a drought.
- As a result, food prices rise, reducing
families' purchasing power and
increasing the risk of severe malnutrition
or worse.
- The impacts of hunger following an
earthquake, typhoon or hurricane can be
tremendous, causing lifelong damage to
children's development.

4. Emotional Aftershocks
- Natural disasters can be particularly
traumatic for young children.
- Confronted with scenes of destruction
and the deaths of friends and loved ones,
many children develop post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), a serious
psychological condition resulting from
extreme trauma.
- Left untreated, children suffering from
PTSD can be prone to lasting
psychological damage and emotional
distress.

Great damage caused by a disaster can be

reduced if everyone will take responsibility in
anticipating its effects. Here are some ways on
how to plan ahead of a disaster:

1) Check for hazards at home.

2) Identify safe place indoors and outdoors
3) Educate yourself and family members
4) Have Disaster kits / supplies on hand.
5) Develop an emergency communication
plan.
6) Help your community get ready.
7) Practice the Disaster Preparedness
Cycle.