Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction Management

Basic Concepts of Disaster and Disaster Risk

A disaster is a serious disruption, occurring over a relatively short time, of the functioning of a
community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss and
impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own
resources.
A possible source of danger is called hazard. A hazard is an agent which has the potential to cause
harm to a vulnerable target. The terms "hazard" and "risk"
Vulnerability refers to factors, such as physical, social, economic, and environmental that increase the
susceptibility to the impact of a hazard.
Disaster risk is expressed as function of hazard, exposure and vulnerability.
Philippines is one of the world’s most disaster prone countries.
PHIVOCS (Philippine Institute of Volcanic and Seismology)
PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration)
MGB (Mines and Geosciences Bureau)
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC),
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), formerly known as
the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), is a working group of various government, non-
government, civil sector and private sector organizations of the Government of the Republic of the
Philippines established by Republic Act 10121 of 2010.
Exposure and Vulnerability
Social, Environment and Economic Dimension of Exposure and Vulnerability
Social. The social dimension of exposure and vulnerability covers a wide range of concerns.(including
immigration, social groups, health and wellbeing, education culture, institution and governance
aspects.)
Environmental. The physical aspects of exposure and vulnerability refers to location and built
structures.
Here is a detailed list of the physical elements exposed to various hazards.
1. Essential Facilities
* education facilities
* medical and healthcare facilities ( e.g. hospital and clinic)
* emergency response facilities( e.g. fire, police station, and shelter)
* governments offices
* recreational or tourist facilities ( e. g. hotels, resort, park public gardens, campaign grounds,
sporting areas, etc.
* places of worship ( e. g churches or mosque)
* banks and financial centers
* markets and shopping centers
* cemeteries
2. Industrial and high potential facilities and facilities containing hazards
* dams and ponds
* fuel reservoirs, pipelines and pumps
 Power( electric) generating plants and lines
* multi – purpose hydropower plants, water tanks and lines
* food processing facilities
3. Transportation Lifelines
* highways, bridges, railways tracks, and tunnels
* bus facilities
* port and harbor facilities
* airport facilities and runways
4. utility lifelines
* potable water facilities
* oil and natural gas system
* electric power facilities and distribution lines
* communication facilities( stations) and distribution lines ( cables and networks)
Economic. Among the economic effects of a hazard events include business interruption due to
accessibility problems, loss of jobs and access to work, and loss of government income due to
inability of business and people to pay taxes at a time when more funds are needed for relief and
rehabilitation.
Basic Concept of Hazard
Hazard are the potentials damages to man and his environment that may result from the
occurrence of natural events such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods and storm surges.
Types of Hazards and examples for each
Geologic Hydrologic Atmospheric Biologic Man- made

EARTHQUAKES Floods – river and Typhoons or Epidemic in Transport

1. vibration coastal hurricanes humans accidents
2. Ground rupture
3. Liquefaction
4. Earthquake –
induced
landslides
5. Tsunami
VOLCANIC Wave action Thunderstorms Epidemic in plants Industrial
ERUPTION explosions and
1.Lava Flow fires
2. Volcanic gas
3. pyroclastic flow
4. Tephra fall
5. Lahar
6. Volcanic debris
7. Avalanche
Rainfall – induced Drought Excessive rainfall Epidemic in Accidental release
landslides animals of toxic chemicals,
Radiological
material, biologic
material, oil, etc.
Rapid sediment Rapid glacier Tornadoes Locusts Nuclear accidents
movement advance
Subsidence Heavy snowfalls Collapse of public
buildings
 Sinkhole Hail WMD – Weapons
formation mass destruction
( biological,
nuclear,
incendiary,
chemical and
exploive
Impact with space Blizzards Computer virus
objects such as Trojan
horse program
Glaze storms

Freezing rain

High wind speeds

Extreme
temperatures
Lightning

Key Hazard Parameters

The magnitudes of the event is a measure of its strength and is an indication of how
destructive it can be.The ritcher Magnitude scale measures the amount of seismic energy releases in
an earthquake, while the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) measures the relative explosiveness of
eruptions based on visual observation. The Mercalli scale and Rossi - forel scale are measures of
earthquake intensity. These differ from magnitude of the ritcher scale because they measure the
earthquakes impact on the ground, on people and on structures.