WELCOME

TO
DISASTER RISK
MANAGEMENT TRAINING
PROGRAMME

PPT 1.1
 General Aims
• To raise awareness amongst the trainees about
various types of disasters, their adverse impacts
and the need to have a sound DRM Plan in each
postal administration
• To impart necessary knowledge and skills about
industry best practices and standardised
procedures (i.e. DRM tools and products) to deal
with disasters
• To enable the trainees to develop their respective
country-specific and hazard-specific DRM Plan
PPT 1.2
 7 Modules in DRM Programme
The seven modules in this programme are:
1. Purpose and International DRM Framework
2. Basic Principles of DRM
3. Understanding Risks – Vulnerability and Risk
Assessment
4. The Five Phases of DRM
5. Post-Disaster Damage and Needs Assessment
6. Partners and Resources for DRM
7. Characters of major natural disasters and Checklists for
each disaster
PPT 1.3
 MODULE 1
Purpose and International DRM Framework

PPT 1.4
 Module 1: Performance Objectives
At the end of this Module, the trainees will be
able to explain:
• what is a disaster and the various concepts
and terminologies used in a DRM Plan
• the purpose of having a DRM Plan in each
postal administration

PPT 1.5
 Activities in this Module
1. Go through the presentations
2. Go through Appendix A of UPU Guide to
know about various types of natural
disasters, their causes
3. List the disaster(s) commonly faced in your
country
4. Complete the Progress Test Q 1.1 at the end
of the module

PPT 1.6
 What is a Disaster?
A disaster can be defined as any occurrence, either
natural or man-made:
- That damages assets and infrastructure, causes
loss of lives & ecological disruptions and
deterioration of health and health services;
- Creates human needs that the victims can not
alleviate themselves; and
- Warrants an extraordinary response from
outside the affected community or area.
PPT 1.7
 Natural and Man-made Disasters
NATURAL MAN-MADE OR TECHNOLOGICAL

1. Biological 1. Industrial Accidents

(Disease Epidemics, Insect/Animal (Chemical Spills, Radio-active Spills)
Plagues or Infestations)
2. Geophysical 2. Transport Accidents/ Failures
(Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Landslides,
Volcanic Eruptions)
3. Climatological 3. Complex Emergencies/ Conflicts,
(Drought, Wildfires) Warlike Encounters, Famine
4. Hydrological
(Floods)
5. Meteorological
(Storms, Cyclones/ Hurricanes/
Typhoons, Tornadoes, Snow Storms)

For more details, refer to Appendix A of UPU DRM Guide. PPT 1.8
 Disasters in recent years
In recent years, a number of countries and their
postal administrations have been affected by
various natural disasters.

For example:
 Earthquakes in Chile (2010) and Japan (2011)
 Super-storm Sandy in USA (2012)
 Typhoon Haiyan in Philippines (2013)
 Earthquake in Nepal (2015)
PPT 1.9
Disasters in recent years (contd.)
During October 2013 to December 2015, UPU
recorded a total of 45 disruptions to international
mail service in different regions due to
19 Floods
13 Winter-storms
5 Hurricanes/ Cyclones/ Typhoons
3 Volcanic Eruptions
2 Earthquakes
1 Landslide, 1 Thunderstorm & 1 Wildfire
PPT 1.10
 Impacts of the Disasters
• These disasters resulted in
 Huge economic losses for the postal
administrations;
 Damage to postal assets and infrastructure;
 Disruptions in mail services in the affected
countries ; and
 Damage & loss of postal items and delays in
worldwide mail processing.
• In general, impact on low-income countries is found
to be more than impact in high income countries
PPT 1.11
 Why a Disaster Management Plan for the
Post?
• Postal services are vital to a nation for communications,
money transfers (e.g. Money Orders), distribution of money to
the poor under various social benefit schemes etc. Its assets
and infrastructure are part of national infrastructure which
need protection from disasters
• Postal services have strong logistics and distribution
infrastructure and therefore, can be a key player in national
disaster responses, serving as a distribution point for
emergency supplies, coordinating emergency aid operations,
facilitating money transfers to affected areas etc.
• Generally, one of the first government services which starts
functioning & gives indication of community’s return to
normalcy. PPT 1.12
 UPU DRM Guide
• The UPU DRM Guide ‘Building Resilience – A Guide
to Disaster Risk Management’, brought out in
2016, outlines standardised procedures for
responding quickly to disasters and recovering
expeditiously from disruptions and emergencies to
mail infrastructure
• Focuses both on pre-disaster Disaster Risk
Reduction (DRR) measures like risk prevention,
mitigation and preparedness and post-disaster
response and recovery activities
PPT 1.13
 UPU DRM Guide (contd.)
• Incorporates industry best practices such as
those identified in UN Plan of Action on DRR
(2013) and Sendai Framework for DRR (2015)
• Inputs in this training programme have been
drawn mainly from the UPU DRM Guide

PPT 1.14
Concepts and Terminologies used
in DRM

PPT 1.15
1. Threats and Exposure to Threats
• A threat is a potentially damaging event,
phenomenon or activity that can occur and
has a detrimental effect on human lives,
properties, etc. (e.g. damaging effects on
postal facility and its operations)
• Exposure to threats:
People, property, systems or other elements
present in hazard zones that are thereby
subject to potential losses
PPT 1.16
 2. Hazard and Disaster
Hazard
 Natural phenomenon that can potentially trigger a
disaster
 Example: Earthquake, Floods, Tsunami
 These events need not necessarily result in a disaster
Disaster
 Serious disruption involving widespread human,
material, economic or environmental losses and impact
Hazards may be inevitable, but disasters can be prevented

PPT 1.17
 3. Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
• Actions that are taken in the pre-disaster
phase to reduce the risk of disasters and their
adverse impacts through systematic efforts
• Consists of:
– Risk Prevention
– Mitigation and
– Preparedness

PPT 1.18
 4. Disaster Risk Management (DRM)
• It is DRR, augmented by Response and
Recovery activities in the post-disaster phase.
• Thus, DRM takes a holistic approach and
consists of
– Risk Prevention
– Mitigation
– Preparedness
– Response and
– Recovery
PPT 1.19
 5.1. DRM Life Cycle
PREPAREDNESS

MITIGATION DISASTER

RISK PREVENTION
RESPONSE

RECOVERY
PPT 1.20
5.2. Disaster Management Strategies in 3 Phases
of Disaster

Post-disaster phase
immediately after the Post-disaster phase
Pre-disaster Phase disaster (48+ hours)
(0-48 hours)
[or pre-impact [or Post Impact
phase]
[also called the impact phase]
phase]
Risk prevention

Mitigation Response Recovery

Preparedness

PPT 1.21
 6. DRM Tools and Products
• These are standardised emergency procedures
or response actions which are followed during
the pre-disaster and post-disaster phases to face
disasters effectively and to build resilience
• Also known as Emergency Procedures Checklists
(Covered in detail in Module 7. Refer to Appendix B
of UPU Guide)
• Postal administrations are encouraged to adapt
and incorporate these tools in their DRM Plan
PPT 1.22
 7. Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
• A Plan to ensure that postal operators can
start the most essential functions and
customer service as soon as possible after the
disaster, preferably immediately after the
impact period
• At the same time, aims to mitigate the
strategic, stakeholder and financial impact of a
disruption.

PPT 1.23
 Key Components of a BCP
• Defining the business impacts, risks or
vulnerabilities that could significantly affect
postal operations
• Identifying the critical activities to be
maintained after a disaster
• Providing for the continuation and effective
performance of critical activities through
several contingency scenarios

PPT 1.24
 Key Components of a BCP (contd.)
• Protecting critical resources (facilities,
equipment, records, etc.) and personnel
required for performance of critical activities
• Reducing or mitigating the impacts of
disruptions to operations

Additional BCP references are provided in Appendix E of

the UPU Guide.

PPT 1.25
 8. Resilience
The ability of a system, community or society
exposed to hazards to resist, absorb,
accommodate, adapt to, transform and
recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely
and efficient manner, including through the
preservation and restoration of its essential
basic structures and functions through risk
management.
(UNISDR, February 2017)
PPT 1.26
 9. DRM Framework
• Legal, institutional & policy frameworks and
administrative mechanisms & procedures related to
management of risks and disasters, including the
emergency management elements

• DRM framework considers DRM as a continuum and

thus as an ongoing process of inter-related actions
which are initiated before, during and after disaster
situations

PPT 1.27
Progress Test Q. 1.1

PPT 1.28