DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION

Is a state in which individuals and groups of a community have developed plans, allocated resources, and established
procedures to implement efficiently and effectively plans for the purpose of saving lives and help response and rescue
operations when a disaster comes

-DISASTER READINESS OR PREPAREDNESS

A Country Prone to Natural Disasters

-PHILIPPINES

The Philippines has experienced from an infinite number of deadly earthquakes, volcano eruptions, and other natural
disasters.

-LOCATION

A large Pacific Ocean region where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

-RING OF FIRE

A path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes

-CIRCUM-PACIFIC BELT (ROF)

A sudden, calamitous event, bringing great damage loss, destruction and devastation to life and property.

-DISASTER

A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic, or
environmental losses, which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope, using its own resources.

-DISASTER

Natural or man-made emergencies that cannot be handled by affected communities who experience severe danger and
incur loss of lives and properties causing disruption in its social structure and prevention of the fulfillment of all or some
of the affected community’s essential functions.
-DISASTER

SUPER TYPHOON YOLANDA

o Wind strength of 360 km/hour
o Sudden and unexpected storm surge
o Total fatalities of 6,340
o Entire city of Tacloban was flattened
o Devastated human life and property, environment

BOHOL EARTHQUAKE
o Magnitude 7.2 with 12 km depth
o Over 79,000 structures including homes, roads, churches, schools, and public buildings were damaged of which
14,500 were totally destroyed, resulting in over 340,000 displaced people
o Affected over 1.2 million people, 222 people died, 976 were injured.
 WOWOWEE STAMPEDE
o A stampede that occurred in Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines on February 4, 2006.
o Turned out to disastrous tragedy when there was a human – induced disturbance among the watching crowd
o Killed 73 people and injured about 400.

TYPES OF DISASTER
A major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the Earth like floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic

eruptions and other geologic processes. Infectious diseases are also included.

-NATURAL DISASTER

Table 1: EXPOSED TO NATURAL HAZARDS

Occurs due to people's actions against human, material and environment either by accident or on purpose.

-MAN MADE DISASTER

These include transport and industrial accidents such as air and train crashes, chemical spills and building collapses.
Terrorism is also categorized as man-made disaster

-MAN MADE DISASTER

Occurs when there is breakdown of modern systems, equipment, or engineering. an event caused by a malfunction of a
technological structure and/or some human error in controlling or handling the technology. Technological disasters can
be considered a man-made disaster meaning there is an “identifiable cause” characteristic.
-TECHNOLOGICAL DISASTER

Table 2: EXPOSED TO MAN-MADE HAZARDS

CONCEPTS OF DISASTER
o Natural events do not automatically become hazards, much less cause disasters.

When does a Natural Event Become a Hazard?

o A natural event becomes a hazard if it poses threat with respect to elements at risk because these are along the
potential path or within areas which can be affected.
o A disaster happens when the probable destructive agent, the hazard, hits a vulnerable populated area.

The possibility that something bad or unpleasant (such as injury or a loss) will happen. The probability of harmful
consequences, or expected loss of lives, people injured, livelihoods, disruption of economic activities and damages to
the environment.

-RISK
Refers to the expectation value of deaths injuries, and property losses that would be caused by a hazard.

-DISASTER RISK

Factors of the community that allow a hazard to cause a disaster.

-VULNERABILITY

The degree to which the elements at risk are likely to experience hazard events of different magnitudes.

-EXPOSURE

The magnitude of the disaster depends on:

o The severity of the natural event

o The quantity of exposure of the elements at risk which includes lives and properties (exposed element can refer
to the number of people or structures within the exposed area)
o Vulnerability level or quality of exposure.

Disaster Risk = Hazard x Exposure x Vulnerability

DISASTER RISK FACTORS

Are variables that either aggravate or mitigate the effects of hazards, affecting the degree or scope of a disaster.

- DISASTER RISK FACTORS

Would pertain to tangible objects or infrastructure, like the availability of fire exits, or the sturdiness of the building, or
the presence or absence of objects that can harm you or help you, etc.

-PHYSICAL FACTORS

Include state of mental capacity and health, perception of self, etc.

-PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

Include religion, social status, traditions, perception by society, etc.

-SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS

Include assets and liabilities, income, economic class, etc.

-ECONOMIC FACTORS

Include government structure, diplomatic issues, etc.

-POLITICAL FACTORS

Include flora and fauna in environment, heath, diseases, etc.

-BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
 NATURE OF DISASTERS
o Disasters are inherently unexpected or come quickly with little or no warning.
o Disasters cannot be managed through normal means.
o Disasters create demands beyond the capacity of a government.
o Disasters knows no political boundary.
o Disasters require restructured and new responding organizations.
o Disasters create new tasks and requires more people as disaster responders.
o Disasters renders inutile routine emergency response equipment and facilities.
o Disasters worsen confusion in understanding roles of people and organizations.
o Disasters exposes lack of disaster planning, response and coordination.

EFFECTS OF DISASTER
In the Philippines was the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.

-1991 MT. PINATUBO ERRUPTION

o Approximately 800 people were killed and 10,000 people left homeless. In total, 364 communities and 2.1
million people were affected by the eruption.
o Huge destruction left in surrounding areas. More than 8,000 houses were completely destroyed, and a further
73,000 were damaged.
o Agriculture was heavily disrupted.
o Severely hampered the economic development of the surrounding areas.
o The powerful eruption of such an enormous volume of lava and ash injected significant quantities of aerosols
and dust into the stratosphere.
o Disasters often result from the failure to anticipate the timing and enormity of natural hazards.
o Disasters do not only result in deaths and destruction or damage to homes and buildings but also, in the
destruction of crops and decreased quality or quantity of water.

1. Medical Effects which include traumatic injuries, emotional stress, epidemic diseases and indigenous diseases.
2. Damage to Critical Facilities.
3. Disruption of transportation.
4. Economic Impact.
5. Global Environment Change.
6. Social and Political Impact.

EXPOSURE AND VULNERABILITY

VULNERABILITY

o The degree of loss to each element should a hazard of a given severity occur.
o It is the characteristics and circumstances of a community, system or asset that make it susceptible to the
damaging effects of hazards.
o It is the result of a number of factors that increase the chances of a community being unable to cope with an
emergency
o can determine the ability of a person or a group to predict, cope with, resist and recover from the effects of a
natural or human-induced threat. As vulnerability increases, it means that the population is at greater risk of
suffering from a severe natural danger.
o Vulnerability is a state of being at risk. According to Republic Act 10121 also known as ‘Philippine Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Act of 2010’, vulnerability is defined as the characteristics and circumstances of a
community, system or resource that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard. With all the
identified hazard at home, there is a possibility that some family members might be susceptible or prone to the
accident due to the presence of hazard.
o Vulnerability is also situation specific. This means that if a specific province is prone to earthquake, it does not
mean that all localities on that province is vulnerable to it. The vulnerability of different towns or cities or even
provinces differ in the way they prepare for the hazard and the amount and type of resources they have in order
prevent and manage it. To lessen vulnerability means to make the community prepared and ready for the
possible damaging effect of the hazard. This further means that to make the community less vulnerable, it must
be resilient. So, to develop resiliency at home, you should first identify the hazards and be prepared all the time
for the possible outcome and respond immediately.
 o Moreover, it is also hazard specific. A community that is vulnerable to earthquake hazard does not necessarily
mean that it is also vulnerable to typhoons. Hazards have different traits that can influence the disasters
possible to happen

EXPOSURE

o The degree to which the elements at risk are likely to experience hazard events of different magnitudes.
o The situation of people, infrastructure, housing, production capacities and other tangible human assets
located in hazard-prone area.

FACTORS OF VULNERABILITY
As an influence is illustrated by certain population groups who are more vulnerable than others.

-SOCIAL FACTOR

Here is a list of the most vulnerable populations:

o People with disabilities

o Children and Seniors
o Medication-dependent individuals
o Women, especially those who are single, single parents , unemployed
o Homeless or “street people”

Compared with developed countries, developing nations face more exposure and vulnerability.

- ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR

Below is a detailed list of the physical elements exposed to various hazards:

1. Essential Facilities

o Educational Facilities
o Medical Healthcare Facilities (Hospitals and clinics)
o Emergency response facilities ( fire station, police station, and shelters)
o Government Offices
o Recreational or tourist facilities (hotels, resorts, parks, public gardens, campingground and sporting areas)
o Places of worship ( churches or mosques)
o Banks and Financial centers
o Markets and shopping centers
o Cemeteries

2. Industrial and high potential loss facilities and facilities containing hazardous materials

o Dams and ponds

o Fuel reservoirs, pipelines and pumps
o Power(electric) generating plants and lines
o Multipurpose hydro plants, water tanks and lines
o Food processing facilities

3. Transportation Lifelines

o Highways, bridges, railway tracks and tunnels

o Bus facilities
o Port and harbor facilities
o Airport facilities and runways

4. Utility lifelines

o Potable water facilities, wastewater facilities, pipelines and distribution lines

o Oil and natural gas systems facilities, pipelines and distribution lines
o Electric power facilities and distribution lines
o Communication facilities (stations) and distribution lines (cables and networks)
Is the susceptibility of individuals, communities, business and governments to absorb or cushion the effects of a hazard
event.

-ECONOMIC FACTORS

Quantifying the tangible aspects of vulnerability and loss is useful in estimating more precisely how much mitigation and
preparedness measures shall be applied.

-QUANTIFYING VULNERABIITY

o It can be expressed simply as a quantity between 0 (lowest degree of vulnerability) and 1 (highest degree of
vulnerability).
o For people, vulnerability can be measured as a ratio of casualties or injured to the total population.
o For buildings, it can also be expressed as a repair cost or as the degree of physical damage; in terms of the
proportion of damaged buildings.