Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines: A Comprehensive Overview - Prof. John, Slides of Physics

Download Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines: A Comprehensive Overview - Prof. John and more Slides Physics in PDF only on Docsity!

Basic Concept

of

Disaster

and

Disaster Risk

Philippines: A Country Prone

to Natural Disasters

The Philippines has experienced from an inexhaustible number of deadly earthquakes, volcano eruptions, and other natural disasters. This is due to its location along the Ring of Fire, a large Pacific Ocean region where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. Indonesia, New Zealand, Papa New Guinea, Philippines, Japan, United States, Chile, Canada, Guatemala, Russia, Peru, Solomon Islands, Mexico and Antarctica.

• Why is it called the “Ring of Fire”? It is known as the “Ring of Fire” because of the loop of volcanoes that lies around the Pacific. Around 75 percent of the world's volcanoes are in this area, with a large number of them lying under water.
• Why is the Ring of Fire so important? Apart from being the center of most seismic and volcano activity, the Ring houses the deepest trench in the world. Tectonic plates meet here, which means that we may see the formation of the world's largest super- continent here in the future.

Instructions: Analyze the given images and answer the given questions below:

1. In one word, describe the given images.

---

---

---

---

2. List down the disasters that you can identify from the images.

---

---

---

Disaster

• Disaster is "a sudden, calamitous occurrence that causes great harm, injury, destruction, and devastation to life and property”.
• It disrupts the usual course of life, causing both physical and emotional distress such as an intense feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.
• A preceding definition of disaster stresses that two elements are affected – life (whether human or animal) and property. The effects vary – it maybe a minor damage (like broken windows and doors) , major damage (like torn rooftops, collapsed walls) , total destruction (like completely destroyed houses and structures rendering them useless and inhabitable) and the worst scenario, it can lead to death. (Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, ADPC, 2012 )

• According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2008 ), disaster is “a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources”.
• Disasters are often a result of the combination of: the exposure to a hazard; the conditions of vulnerability that are present; and insufficient capacity or measures to reduce or cope with the potential negative consequences.
• Its impacts may include loss of life, injury, disease and other negative effects on human physical, mental, and social wellbeing, together with damage to properties, destruction of assets, loss of services, social and economic disruptions, and environmental degradation.

Subdivided into three categories:

1. Technological/industrial disasters - Unregulated industrialization and inadequate safety standards increase the risk for industrial disasters. EXAMPLE: leaks of hazardous materials; accidental explosions; bridge or road collapses, or vehicle collisions; Power cuts
2. Terrorism/Violence - the threat of terrorism has also increased due to the spread of technologies involving nuclear, biological, and chemical agents used to develop weapons of mass destruction. EXAMPLE: bombs or explosions; release of chemical materials; release of biological agents; release of radioactive agents; multiple or massive shootings; mutinies

3. Complex humanitarian emergencies - the term complex emergency is usually used to describe the humanitarian emergency resulting from an international or civil war. In such situations, large numbers of people are displaced from their homes due to the lack of personal safety and the disruption of basic infrastructure including food distribution, water, electricity, and sanitation, or communities are left stranded and isolated in their own homes unable to access assistance. EXAMPLE: conflicts or wars and Genocide the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation

Disaster Risk

• The term disaster risk refers to the potential (not actual and realized) disaster losses, in lives, health status, livelihoods, assets, and services which could occur in a community or society over some specified future time period.
• Disaster risk is the product of the possible damage caused by a hazard due to the vulnerability within a community. It should be noted that the effect of a hazard (of a particular magnitude) would affect communities differently (Von Kotze, 1999 : 35 ).
• It can also be determined by the presence of three variables: hazards (natural or anthropogenic); vulnerability to a hazard; and coping capacity linked to the reduction, mitigation, and resilience to the vulnerability of a community.

Risk Factors Underlying Disasters

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.