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CHAPTER 29
DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The starting point in disaster management is to understand what disaster risk is all about. Risk is an effect of the interplay of hazard, vulnerability and capacity. It is important to consider hazards, vulnerabilities and capacities of people and societies in understanding disaster and risk scenarios.
Natural phenomena become hazards only when they pose a threat to persons and property. Natural hazards only result in a disaster if they coincide with vulnerable conditions. It is not only hazards which cause disaster but also the political, economic, social, geographical location and environmental context. A disaster happens when a hazard impacts on a vulnerable population and causes damage, casualties and disruption. Researches show that the causes of disasters are closely associated with unsustainable development patterns, which increase the risks faced by large sectors of society.
Due to the many challenges in addressing disasters, there had been a growing recognition for shifting the paradigm from emergency management to disaster risk management. Successful disaster management is firmly rooted in good governance which supports national and sub-national systems to focus on reducing risk in all sectors and at all levels and disaster management. It is aimed at reducing the negative impact on economic growth and society's quality of life.
Situational Analysis
Hazards. The Bicol Region is subject to sudden natural hazards (e.g. floods, landslides, earthquakes), slow-onset hazard (e.g. typhoon, drought,volcanic eruption) and biological hazards (e.g., avian flu, rice black bug, brontispa bug and epidemic).
Bicol lies near the center of the Philippine Fault Zone along the China Sea which is a major earthquake generator in the Philippine archipelago. It is about 1,300 kilometers long and has a bundle of parallel to sub parallel active faults. Another major source of earthquake is the Philippine trench. Dangerous effects of earthquake are seismic sea wave or tsunami, landslides, liquefaction, structural failure and fire and explosions.
The region experienced two major earthquakes, the Ragay Gulf earthquake (17 March 1973) and the Masbate earthquake (15 February 2003). The Ragay Gulf earthquake greatly affected the Quezon province and wrought damages to roads, railroads and bridges that hampered the travel to and from Bicol. The Masbate earthquake, with a maximum Intensity 8, was generated along the Masbate segment of the Philippine Fault Zone in Central Philippines. The earthquake totally damaged houses and severely damaged roads, school buildings, bridges and river flood control projects in the province.
The presence of Mt. Mayon (Albay), Mt. Bulusan (Sorsogon), Mt. Isarog (Cam. Sur) and Mt. Iriga (Iriga City) pose hazards from volcanic quakes, pyroclastic flow, mud & debris flow, ash falls, tephra falls & lava flows. Mt. Mayon and Mt. Bulusan are the most active and their eruptions have caused disturbance in the socio-economic growth and even the physical landscape of their surrounding areas.
The region has experienced destructive tropical cyclones/typhoons. Most of these occurred during the period October to January and have a wind velocity greater than 117 kilometers per hour. The El Niño and La Niña phenomena greatly affect the region's agricultural productivity, aggravating the poverty situation in the region.
Biological hazards such as rice black bug and brontispa bug have adversely affected the region's rice and coconut crops respectively. Other biological hazards that may affect Bicol are the avian flu and foot and mouth disease.
Vulnerability.
All provinces are vulnerable to floods, landslides, typhoons, fire, El Niño and La Niña, red tide and epidemic. Vulnerabilities to other hazards are:
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Volcanic eruptions in Albay and Sorsogon with Mayon and Bulusan volcanoes respectively;
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Oil spill in Albay with the presence of industries along the coast;
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Mine tailings in Albay, Camarines Norte and Masbate where mining for metallic minerals occur;
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Brontispa bug in areas planted to coconut;
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Rice black bug in areas planted to rice;and
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Avian flu in areas visited by migratory birds.
Capacities of People and Society. Government institutions that have been put in place to address disaster management concerns are the disaster coordinating councils from the barangay to the regional levels. The capability of these councils vary according to the nature of its organization, work program and budgetary allocation, extent of experience on disaster management and political will to mainstream disaster risk reduction in local government activities. Most of their activities are on disaster response with very little disaster preparedness and post-disaster activities. Moreover, these councils are not stable as they have to be reorganized every election period and are activated during calamities.
Likewise, local government units have offices or committees in charge of disaster management with varying capabilities. Many LGUs’ Executive and Legislative Agenda (ELA) do not include disaster management. Among the provinces, only Albay has established a Provincial Disaster Management Office (PDMO). Other provinces have at least one staff assigned to coordinate disaster response activities with other departments.
The capabilities of institutions such as Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PhiVolcs) and other agencies for disaster preparedness are still inadequate to provide accurate forecasts. PAGASA is relatively adequate for wind forecasting but inadequate for rainfall forecasting. Dissemination of information to communities is limited to radio stations. Failure of communication occurs when there is power outage because most receiver radios are ran by electricity.
PhiVolcs has mapped the active faults and volcanic hazard maps but these are still macro maps and have to be further scaled up to lot or parcel level to accurately identify population at risk.
Front line agencies have the technical capability for disaster response but lacking in equipment on early warning, weather forecasting and earthquake monitoring. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has an ongoing project on hazard assessment. The output of the project is a 1:50,000 scale geohazard (landslide, flood, ground subsidence) maps. It has completed about 60 percent of the municipalities and cities. A separate project covering Camarines Norte conducted by the central office of MGB is complete. The MGB has conducted utilization workshops on the hazard maps in six barangays.
On disaster response,concerned institutions performed their mandated functions (e.g., organized task forces for the safety of the affected families). Government agencies and organizations in charge of search and rescue operations are wanting of equipment and gadgets for immediate and more effective operations. On disaster relief operations, there were cases of under and over coverage of beneficiaries due to the lack of coordination among government agencies and non-government organizations.
The following are the challenges in disaster management:
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Economic growth has to be achieved even with the presence of disaster risks.
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The timeframe between the identification of an impending disaster and organizing an appropriate action by the communities should be shortened.
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Lasting and profound improvements have to be achieved in reducing the level of disaster risk to which the majority of marginalized population groups are exposed.
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Barangays, being the location of population at risk, have to be involved as active participants in disaster management.
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The political will must be established to sustain new disaster risk management policies.
Development Objective
Disaster risk management in the Bicol development plan aims to improve capacities of institutions involved in disaster risk management in the areas of pre-disaster, disaster response and post-disaster activities.
Strategies
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Communities will be educated on disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Provinces will conduct hazard assessment and disaster management plan formulation workshops, trainings and information dissemination on disaster preparedness and disaster monitoring and reporting for barangays. Communities shall establish community-based warning systems that shall be known by all households.
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Capabilities of local government units will be enhanced through:
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Build-up of geographic information systems (GIS) database for comprehensive land use planning with conscious consideration of disaster risk management;
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Formulation of comprehensive local development plans which are in accordance with the planning guidelines and standards and to include cost effective risk reduction strategies, i.e., establishment of relocation sites with facilities for residents in high disaster risk zones;
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Enforcement of land use ordinances and settlements regulations by the LGUs especially those in identified hazard prone areas.
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LGUs shall ensure that applications for building and business permits have complied with the standard requirements of the DPWH, BFP and other agencies concerned.
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Disaster risk zones shall be delineated based on geohazard maps and settlements policies will be enacted:
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High risk zones: These will be prohibited from new investments while existing resources will be relocated, including settlements.
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Low to moderate risk zones: These will be provided with structural mitigation for maximum protection.
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Safe zones: These will be considered as space for new investments both by the government, business and private sector.
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Institutionalization of a public safety and emergency management office in all provinces, cities and municipalities;
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Capability building of local disaster coordinating councils;
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Activation of local price coordinating councils; and
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Institutionalization of the UN Cluster Approach to disaster risk management.
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PAGASA, PhilVolcs, and other relevant agencies shall improve their technological monitoring and information dissemination system including the integration of such with a regional or worldwide system. Other reliable sources of information in the internet may be culled in cases when official information is not yet available.
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The response of national, local governments and private sector organizations in the event of a disaster, through the disaster coordinating council network, shall be strengthened. The regional/local disaster coordinating councils shall take the lead in delineating the roles of and coordination among stakeholders (individuals, communities, local government units, national government agencies and civil society organizations).
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The Department of Education (DepEd), in coordination with LGUs, shall construct multi-purpose evacuation centers in schools safe from hazards.
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The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), in coordination with the DBM, shall include management of the calamity fund as one of its topics for advocacy with local government units.
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The Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) shall formulate disaster preparedness, response and recovery guidelines for high disaster risk circumstances (i.e., typhoons, floods, lahar flow, volcanic eruption, fire, biological hazards). It shall coordinate a yearly conference of stakeholders in disaster risk reduction in the region.
Policy Recommendations
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Strengthen institutional framework by creating a permanent disaster management office in provinces, cities and municipalities as part of the Local Government structure.
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Line agencies involved in disaster management (e.g., BFP, AFP, etc.) be provided with a regular disaster calamity fund.
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PAGASA at the regional level shall be strengthened by capacitating it in providing ttimely information on climate-related hazards.
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The guidelines for the use of calamity funds be revised to define pre-disaster activities for which the calamity fund may be used and include provisions that will protect the fund from abuse.
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Institutional strengthening of PAGASA and PhiVolcs especially in their technological capacity to provide early and accurate warning or forecasts.
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Harmonization of guidelines on pre-, during and post-disaster response.
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DRM-enhanced local and regional development and physical plans.
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Include the development of geohazard tools and geohazard maps and their periodic updating under the strategies. Review policies specific to the development of high, moderate, low, and safe areas.
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Title |
Description |
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1. Geohazard Survey and Assessment
Masbate, Catanduanes and cities |
This is a project of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau aimed at assessing the vulnerability of communities to geohazards. This includes survey and production of geohazard maps in 1:50,000 scale.
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2.
Geohazard Awareness and Disaster Preparedness Advocacy |
This is a project of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau aimed at creating awareness of communities on their vulnerability to geohazards. This includes dissemination of hazard advisories to barangays, capacity building through seminar workshops for barangay and municipal officials and awareness of geological hazards via trimedia. |
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3.
Community Based Disaster Risk Management Pilot Program |
This is a project to be implemented by the APSEMO in cooperation with the Office of Civil Defense, Asian Preparedness Center and the local government unit of Camalig, Albay. It will include the enhancement with disaster risk reduction of the Camalig comprehensive land use plan and comprehensive development plan and the implementation of a communication and warning system. |
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4.
Rehabilitation of Typhoon and Volcanic Eruption-affected Areas |
This is a project of the Dept. of Agriculture RFU 5 for the rehabilitation of the agriculture sector which include:
provision of planting materials, rehabilitation of damaged facilities, advocacy, education and training and monitoring and coordination. |
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