Importance of Disaster Risk Reduction

Natural hazards are naturally-occurring physical phenomena caused by

either the rapid or slow onset of events having atmospheric, geologic and
hydrologic origins on solar, global, regional, national or local scales.
Disasters often follow natural hazards and they are a result of the
combination of hazards, the conditions of vulnerability and of the
insufficient capacity or measures to reduce the potentially negative
consequences of the hazard.

Disaster risk reduction is the concept and practice of reducing disaster

risks through systematic efforts to analyze and reduce the causal factors
of disasters.
-UNESCO
Importance of Disaster Risk Reduction
Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction

INTRODUCTION
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan aims to
provide policies, plans and programs to deal with disasters in the
Philippines. It also serves as “the principal guide to disaster risk reduction
and management (DRRM) efforts to the country….” The Framework
envisions a country of “safer, adaptive and disaster resilient Filipino
communities toward sustainable development.”
Community participation has been recognized as the additional element
in disaster management necessary to reverse the worldwide trend of
increasing frequency and loss from disasters, build a culture of safety and
disaster resilient communities, and ensure sustainable development for all.
This paper highlights the features, processes, components, and gains of
community based disaster management (CBDM) as showcased by good
practices in community based preparedness and mitigation of key
organizations involved in the Philippine Disaster Management Forum.
 Four themes in disaster risk reduction management
framework:

1. Disaster prevention and mitigation

2. Disaster preparedness
3. Disaster response
4. Disaster rehabilitation and recovery
Definition of Terms:
Disaster prevention
the outright avoidance of adverse impacts of hazards and related
disasters. It expresses the concept and intention to completely avoid
potential adverse impacts through action taken in advance such as
construction of infrastructure to eliminate certain risks, land use regulation
that do not permit any settlement in high-risk zones and seismic
engineering designs that ensure the integrity of building in an earthquake.
Disaster mitigation
The lessening or limitation of the adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters.
Mitigation measures encompass engineering techniques and hazard-resilient
construction as well as improved environmental policies and public awareness.
Disaster preparedness
the knowledge and capacities developed by governments, professional response
and recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate
respond to, and recover from, the impacts of likely, imminent or current hazard
events or conditions
Disaster response
The provision of emergency services and public assistance during or immediately
after a disaster in order to save lives, reduce health impacts, ensure public safety
and meet the basic subsistence needs of the people affected.
Disaster rehabilitation and recovery
The restoration, and improvement where appropriate, of facilities,
livelihoods and living conditions of disaster-affected communities,
including efforts to reduce disaster risk factors, in accordance with the
principle of “build back better”.
Rehabilitation
measures that ensure the ability of affected communities and/or areas
to restore their normal level of function by rebuilding livelihood and
damaged infrastructure and increasing the communities’ organizational
capacity.
Elements and features of community based disaster
management

Whether a disaster is major or minor, of national or local

proportion, it is the people at the community or village level
who suffer most its adverse effects. They use coping and
survival strategies to face and respond to the situation long
before outside help from NGOs or the government arrives.
They are interested to protect themselves from the damage
and harm through community based disaster preparedness
and mitigation.

The following key elements of CBDM can be derived form

practice in CBDM in the Philippines (which generally parallels
experiences in other countries)
people’s participation
community members are the main actors and propellers; while
sustaining the CBDM process, they also directly share in the benefits of
disaster preparedness, mitigation and development.
priority for the most vulnerable groups, families, and people in the
community
In the urban areas the most vulnerable sectors are generally the urban
poor and informal sector while in the rural areas, these are the
subsistence farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous people; also more
vulnerable are the elderly, the differently abled, children and women
(because of their care giving and social function roles)
risk reduction measures are community
specific and are identified after an analysis of the community’s disaster
risk (hazards, vulnerabilities and capacities and consideration of varying
perceptions of disaster risk)
existing coping mechanisms and capacities are recognized
CBDM builds upon and strengthens existing coping strategies and
capacities; most common social/ organizational values and mechanism
are cooperation, community/people’s organizations, and local
knowledge and resources.
the aim is to reduce vulnerabilities by strengthening capacities; the goal
is building disaster resilient communities
links disaster risk reduction with development
addresses vulnerable conditions and causes of vulnerabilities
outsiders have supporting and facilitating role
NGOs have supporting, facilitating and catalytic role, but while NGOs should
plan for phase-out, government’s role is integral to enable and institutionalize
the CBDM process; partnerships with less vulnerable groups and other
communities
Participatory process and content: involvement of community members,
particularly the most vulnerable sectors and groups in the whole process of risk
assessment, identification of mitigation & preparedness measures, decision
making, implementation; the community directly benefits from the risk
reduction and development process
responsive: based on the community’s felt and urgent needs; considers the
community’s perception and prioritization of disaster risks and risk reduction
measures so the community can claim ownership.
integrated: pre- and during and post-disaster measures are planned and
implemented as necessary by the community; there is linkage of the
community with other communities, organizations and government
units/agencies at various levels especially for vulnerabilities which the local
community can not address by itself.
proactive: stress on pre-disaster measures of prevention, mitigation and
preparedness.
comprehensive: structural (hard, physical) and non-structural (soft,
health, literacy, public awareness, education and training, livelihood,
community organizing, advocacy, reforestation and environmental
protection, etc) preparedness and mitigation measures are undertaken;
short-, medium- term and long-term measures to address vulnerabilities
multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary: considers roles and participation of
all stakeholders in the community; combines indigenous/local knowledge
and resources with science and technology and support from outsiders;
addresses concerns of various stakeholders while upholding the basic
interest of the most vulnerable sectors and groups
empowering: people’s options and capacities are increased; more
access to and control of resources and basic social services through
concerted action; more meaningful participation in decision making
which affects their lives; more control over the natural and physical
environment; participation in CBDM develops the confidence of
community members to participate in other development endeavors.
developmental: contributes to addressing and reducing the complex
relation of conditions, factors and processes of vulnerabilities present in
society, including poverty, social inequity and environmental resources
depletion and degradation
Process To Transform At-risk communities to Disaster Resili
Communities:

In general, the goal of CBDM is to transform

vulnerable or at-risk communities to disaster resilient
communities. While resilience is a new term in CBDM
in the Philippines, community members easily grasp
the concept when illustrated with the bamboo which
sways when battered by strong winds but stays firmly
rooted and weathers the storm. Although steps may
vary from community contexts and organizational
mandates, the process and requisites for disaster risk
reduction can be generalized as follows:
Process To Transform At-risk communities to Disaster Resili
Communities:

1. Initiating the process - linkage and building rapport with community;

community or outsiders may initiate
2. Community Profiling - initial understanding of disaster situation and
orientation on CBDM
3. Community Risk Assessment – participatory assessment of hazards,
vulnerabilities, capacities and people’s perception of risks
4. Formulation of Initial Disaster Risk Reduction Plan - community counter
disaster, disaster management, development plan or action plan;
identification of appropriate mitigation and preparedness measures
including public awareness, training and education; action plan
5. Formation of Community Disaster Response Organization – community
organizing and mobilization, capability building in preparedness and
mitigation, organizational development and strengthening
Process To Transform At-risk communities to Disaster Resili
Communities:

6. Implementation of short-, medium-, and long-term risk reduction

measures, activities, projects and programs - implementation strategies
and mechanisms; organizational/institutional strengthening.
7. Monitoring and Evaluation - continuous improvement of disaster risk
reduction plan/community counter disaster plan, identification of
success factors and improvement of weak areas; documentation and
dissemination of good practices for replication.
Process To Transform At-risk communities to Disaster Resili
Communities:

Within this process, the formation and strengthening of community

disaster response organization or community disaster management
volunteers team is the key to mobilizing communities for sustainable
disaster risk reduction. The community volunteers, disaster
management committee, and disaster response organization are the
necessary interface or the channel for outsiders such as NGOs or
government agencies to assist/support the community at-large. The
community groups and organizations are essential in sustaining the risk
reduction process for the community to meet intended aims and
targets in CBDM.
Benefits of Community Participation in Disaster Preparedness and
Mitigation:
Benefits of Community Participation in Disaster
Preparedness and Mitigation:

A wide range of innovative and do-able structural and non-structural

preparedness and mitigation measures are identified and
implemented to reduce vulnerabilities by building on and
strengthening local coping strategies and capacities.
Involving the community members throughout the process of risk
assessment (hazard vulnerability capacity assessment) to disaster
action planning (counter disaster planning) leads to ownership
commitment, individual and collective actions in disaster preparedness
and mitigation.
Community members mobilize resources from within (mostly labor) and
outside the community so community disaster preparedness and
mitigation in cost effective.
Benefits of Community Participation in Disaster
Preparedness and Mitigation:

CBDM strengthens social cohesion and cooperation within the

community and society.
Community disaster preparedness and mitigation provides
opportunities for the integration of disaster management into the local
development planning processes and systems.
CBDM builds confidence among individuals, households, communities
in undertaking disaster preparedness and mitigation as well other
development-related endeavors. This leads to self- and community
empowerment.