Disaster Readiness and

Risk Reduction
Quarter 1 – Module 2:
Risk Factors Underlying
Disasters
 Lesson
Differentiating Risk Factors
1 Underlying Disaster

In this module, the learner will understand that disaster can bring about
many devastating effects. Upon identifying the risk factors underlying disaster, this
will provide ideas to mitigate the effects of disasters that can lead to death,
destruction of infrastructures, loss of livelihoods, and even non-physical events like
emotional and psychological aspects.

What’s In

At Risk…

Disaster can affect everyone. It does not discriminate between and among
social classes, gender, creed, race, and nationality. But certain risk factors put those
affected in a position where they will have graver or longer-lasting post-disaster
stress reactions. These aggravating factors contribute to evident differences in the
stress reactions of certain individuals with certain characteristics.

Activity 1.1:
Direction: Read the scenario below. Based on your understanding of disaster from
the previous module, enumerate or list down the risks that are reflected from the
text.

Gina, an 18-year-old resident of

Tacloban City, just got laid off from
her job as a sales clerk in a medium-
sized hardware store. She and her
siblings could barely survive each
day with their limited resources.
Then Typhoon Yolanda struck, it
killed her 2 younger sisters. Their
home was destroyed by the storm
surge. In her barangay alone, 2000
residents were killed, including her
childhood friends and former Composite Art Background:
playmates. Medico International (2013) Taifun-Nothilfe Philippinen
2013. Photograph. https://www.flickr.com/photos/
35576425@N08/11190702586 Licensed underCC BY-SA
2.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?
ref=ccsearch&atype=rich

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 Identified Risks:

1. __________________________________ 4. __________________________________
2. __________________________________ 5. __________________________________
3. __________________________________

What’s New

Activity 1.2 Identifying Risk Factors

Direction: Read the news article about an earthquake. After you have read the
article, answer the guide questions.

6.4-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Southern Philippines

MANILA • A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake shook the southern Philippines
yesterday, sending frightened residents fleeing from buildings, officials and
eyewitnesses said.

The quake struck off the coast of the southern town of Manay at 3.16 pm at a depth
of 14km, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said in
a statement.

While there were no immediate reports of serious destruction, the institute said it
expects the earthquake to have caused some damage.

A lot of people ran from their homes because a lot of items were falling inside," The
Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) is a service institute
of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) that is principally mandated to
mitigate disasters that may arise from volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunami and
other related geotectonic phenomena. PHIVOLCS science researcher John Deximo
said.

The Philippines lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where
many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

At least two people were killed and scores injured when a 6.5-magnitude quake
struck the central Philippines in July last year.

The most recent major quake to hit the Philippines was in 2013, when a 7.1-
magnitude quake left more than 220 people dead and destroyed historic churches in
the central islands.

France-Presse, Agence, “6.4-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Southern Philippines”THE STRAIT TIMES

ASIA, 09 September 2018, SGT https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/64-magnitude-
earthquake-shakes-southern-philippines

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Guide Questions:
1. What risk/s can you identify from the news article?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. What do you think are the factors that affect the disaster risks from the preceding
article?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

What is It

RISK FACTORS

Disaster risk as defined in the first module, has three important elements
such as:
1. Exposure - the “elements at risk from a natural or man-made hazard event
(Quebral, 2016).
2. 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 (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United nation, FAO
2008).
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

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 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.
Magbool, Irfan, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, ADPC, 31 December 2012,
https://www.adpc.net/igo/contents/adpcpage.asp?pid=1266&dep=RIG

⚫ 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.
Magbool, Irfan, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, ADPC, 31 December 2012,
https://www.adpc.net/igo/contents/adpcpage.asp?pid=1266&dep=RIG

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
(UNFCCC) 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”
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, “Climate Change and Disaster Risk
Reduction”, September 2008
https://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/dra/vcp/documents/7607_Climate-Change-DRR.pdf

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
(UNISDR, 2009b). 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

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leads to increased risk from disasters, and in turn, natural hazards can further
degrade the environment.

Prevention Web. Editor, “Environmental Degradation”, Prevention Web. The Knowledge

Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, 12 November 2015
https://www.preventionweb.net/risk/environmental-degradation

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 (Gencer, 2013).

Prevention Web. Editor, “Globalized Economic Development”, Prevention Web. The

Knowledge Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, 12 November 2015
https://www.preventionweb.net/risk/globalized-economic-development

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 (Wisner et al., 2004), particularly extensive risk, with drought being the hazard
most closely associated with poverty (Shepard et al., 2013). 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
(DFID, 2004; Twigg, 2004; Wisner et al., 2004; UNISDR, 2009b).
Prevention Web. Editor, “Poverty and inequality”, Prevention Web.
The Knowledge Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, 12 November
2015 https://www.preventionweb.net/risk/poverty-inequality

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

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of people and economic activities in many cities are seen to overlap with areas of
high-risk exposure.
Prevention Web editor, “Poorly planned and managed urban development “, Prevention Web. The
Knowledge Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, 12 November 2015
https://www.preventionweb.net/risk/poorly-planned-managed-urban-development

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 (UNISDR, 2015a). Disaster risk governance refers to the specific
arrangements that societies put in place to manage their disaster risk (UNISDR,
2011a; UNDP, 2013a) within a broader context of risk governance (Renn, 2008 in
UNISDR, 2015a). This reflects how risk is valued against a backdrop of broader social
and economic concerns (Holley et al., 2011).
Prevention Web. Editor, “ ”Prevention Web. The Knowledge Platform for Disaster Risk
Reduction. Nov. 12, 2015 https://www.preventionweb.net/risk/weak-governance

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 contributory 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.