GUIDELINES IN DISASTER AND EMERGENCY SITUATIONS

Group 2 (Blk 1)
MARIA PRINCESS DIANE OCAMPO
CAMILLE ORENA
JACQUELYN PALMA
ERICKA LYN PORTEM
ANGEL POSADAS

 Mental Health and Psychosocial support (mhpss)

The term ‘mental health and psychosocial support' (MHPSS) refers to any type of local or outside
support that aims to protect or promote psychosocial well-being or prevent or treat mental health
conditions.

RELEVANCE FOR EMERGENCY OPERATIONS

People affected by humanitarian emergencies often face pervasive psychological stress that causes
widespread emotional suffering and may undermine people’s ability for survival. The loss and stress
experienced during humanitarian emergencies cause grief, fear, anxiety, guilt, shame and hopelessness
that overtax individuals' capacity to cope.

KEY ACTIONS

1. Coordinate mental health and psychosocial support across sectors.

2. Conduct assessments of mental health and psychosocial support.
3. Apply human rights framework through mental health and psychosocial support
4. Facilitate community mobilization, ownership and control of emergency response in all sectors

 INFANT AND YOUNG CHILD FEEDING DURING EMERGENCY AND DISASTER

SITUATION
Infants and young children are vulnerable during emergencies; however, taking steps to ensure they are
safely and appropriately fed can be instrumental in keeping them healthy. Breastfeeding remains the
safest infant feeding option in a natural disaster situation. Breast milk helps protect babies from diseases
such as diarrhea and respiratory infections and provides the calories and nutrients babies need. This
protection is especially important during natural disasters when contaminated water and unsanitary
environments can increase the risk of disease.

PREPAREDNESS

Relief workers can be prepared in the following ways:

• Learn about breastfeeding prior to an emergency.
• Gather surveillance data about breastfeeding rates in the state or community.
• Learn about safe storage and preparation of powdered infant formula and how to ensure safe infant
formula feeding during emergencies.
• Learn about complementary feeding for 6 to 24month old children
Training and Education
• Learn about cup feeding, an alternative way to feed infants when they are unable to feed directly at the
breast and when infant feeding items cannot be cleaned properly.
• Learn about hand expression, a technique used to release milk from the breast by hand, without using a
breast pump.
• Consider training to become a lactation support provider.
Making Connections
- Work with local health care providers and lactation support providers to teach families how to create
an individual preparedness plan and what to include in an emergency kit.
- Know about the different types of lactation support providers and how to connect with lactation
support providers in your community.
• Build partnerships with community-based lactation-related services, such as:
- Hospital-based lactation programs
- Human milk banks

RESPONSE

Identify Resource Needs

Document the number of pregnant women and families with children under the age of 2 years and how
they are fed to determine resources needed.
• Conduct a rapid needs assessment
Create a Safe Space for All Families
• Keep families together.
• Reassure breastfeeding women that they can and should continue to breastfeed and offer the breast as
often as their infants want.
• Consider grouping families with infants and young children together to encourage mutual aid and
support resiliency.
It's All About Access
• Pregnant, postpartum, and lactating women should be provided with food and water to meet the
additional caloric intake neededfor their bodies to optimally support pregnancy or lactation.
• Be ready to connect parents and caregivers to lactation support providers if they need help.
• Coordinate care for families needing referrals to appropriate psychological first aid and/or mental
health and psychosocial support providers and resources.

RECOVERY

Disasters can be traumatizing for families. Emergency responders should beaware that individuals and
communities may have experienced a variety of traumas in their lives and need to consider a survivor’s
physical, psychological, and emotional safety and well-being after a disaster.
• Take a trauma-informed approach to care during emergency response and recovery efforts.
• Teach families stress-reducing strategies.
• Provide information about caring for children in disasters.
• Connect people to mental health support services.

Continuity of Care
• Assist families to connect with their health care providers and other social services to ensure their
nutritional, physical, and mental health needs will be met during the recovery phase following an
emergency.
• When breastfed infants do not have access to their mothers’ own milk, work to facilitate access to
pasteurized donor human milk.
• If breastfeeding was disrupted, support families with relacation or resuming exclusive breastfeeding,
and connect them to lactation support.
• If infants are dependent on infant formula, they will need infant formula, feeding supplies such as cups
or bottles and nipples, and cleaning supplies through the recovery phase following a disaster.
Reunification
Reunification is the process of ensuring that children return to the care of their parent(s) and family as
quickly as possible after an emergency. Most parents in the United States work outside the home and
young children may attend childcare. Emergencies increase the possibility for children to become
separated from their parents or legal guardians. During the evacuation or sheltering process, parents may
find that they are at work and their children are in childcare, school, are creational facility, or other
location. Keep children safe while they are separated from their families.
Post-disaster Assessment and Surveillance
• Post-disaster Indicators for Pregnant and Postpartum Women and Infants: This list includes common
epidemiologic indicators for pregnant and postpartum women and infants who are affected by disasters
and offers suggested measurement approaches.
• Sample Protocol for Using Post-Disaster Indicatorsfor Pregnant and Postpartum Women and Infants:
Provides information on how post-disaster health indicators can be used when collecting supplemental
information on pregnant and
postpartum women.

 PAGASA (Philippine atmospheric, geophysical, and astronomical services administration)

RAINFALL WARNING SYSTEM

PAGASA
The PAGASA Rainfall Warning System is a critical tool used in the Philippines to monitor and
communicate potential risks associated with heavy rainfall. It helps communities prepare for and
mitigate the harmful effects of flooding, landslides, and other weather-related hazards.

Color-coded warnings
This is the most commonly used system, employing three colors to indicate the severity of the rainfall.
YELLOW
- Rainfall of 7.5mm to 15mm within an hour, with possible flooding in low lying areas
ORANGE
- Rainfall of 15mm to 30mm within an hour, with definite flood threat in affected areas.
RED
- Rainfall exceeding 30mm within an hour or continuous rainfall exceeding65mm in the past 3 hours,
posing a serious flood emergency.

 EATHQUAKE AND FLOOD WARNING SYSTEM

EARTHQUAKE WARNING SYSTEM

An earthquake warning system or earthquake early warning system is a system of accelerometers,
seismometers, communication, computers, and alarms that are devised for notifying adjoining regions of
a substantial earthquake while it is in progress. This is not the same as earthquake prediction, which is
currently incapable of producing decisive event warnings.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) is the leading center for
earthquake monitoring. The Institute’s National Earthquake Monitoring and Information aims to provide
accurate and timely information on significant earthquakes and tsunami events that may significantly
impact the Philippines; and to ensure the accessibility and integrity of earthquake data.

Earthquake monitoring in the country has been enhanced with the operation of ninety-two (92) Seismic
Network, ten (10) Seismic Stations of which were commissionedin2016. With 64 stations in 2010,
PHIVOLCS-DOST surpassed its target of establishingan85 stations network by the end of 2016.

Google Philippines has launched the Android Earthquake Alerts System, a free feature that detects
earthquakes around the world and alerts users. The system alerts people in two ways via the search
engine and directly on the Android mobile device.

Integrated approach for Local Flood Early Warning Systems (LFEWS) in the Philippines.
LFEWS combines the capacities of the national meteorological authority, local government units and the
communities. The approach focuses on small to medium- sized river basins and is tailored to local
conditions. Where necessary, the system may be supplemented with GIS data and satellite information.
Data on the extent and frequency of rising water levels provide important information for risk maps that
can be used to prepare or adapt land-use plans.

The prevented damages and losses associated with flood events significantly ease the financial burden
on private households and district budgets and usually a mortises the costs of running and maintaining
the LFEWS within a few years.

Early warning must be understood as a system. A complete and effective early warning system
comprises four inter-connected components. ​
The LFEWS approach includes all four pillars of an effective “end-to-end” early Warning system:​