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.

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”.

 Any adverse episode or phenomenon can exploit a vulnerability in the affected population or
community to create damage and this awareness will form the basis for an adequate
intervention.
 Meanwhile, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction defines disaster as
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.

Classification of Disasters:

Disasters can be divided into 2 large categories:

A. Natural Disasters – a natural phenomenon is caused by natural forces, such as earthquakes, typhoon,
volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, fires, tornados, and extreme temperatures. They can be classified as
rapid onset disasters and those with progressive onset, such as droughts that lead to famine. These
events, usually sudden, can have tremendous effects.
B. Man-made - Disasters caused by man are those in which major direct causes are identifiable
intentional or non-intentional human actions.

Subdivided into three categories:

1. Technological/industrial disasters- Unregulated industrialization and inadequate safety standards

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.

The damage caused by disaster cannot be measured. It also differs with the kind of geographical
location, climate, earth’s specific characteristics, and level of vulnerability. These determining factors
affect generally the psychological, socio – economic, political, and ethnical state of the affected area.

Risk and Disaster Risk

Risk has various connotations within different disciplines. In general, risk is defined as “the combination
of the probability of an event and its negative consequences” (UNISDR, 2009). The term risk is thus
multidisciplinary and is used in a variety of contexts. It is usually associated with the degree to which
humans cannot cope (lack of capacity) with a situation (e.g. natural hazard).

 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.
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.

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. 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 firsthand which has the
highest risk of developing future mental problems, followed by those in contact with the victims
such as rescue workers and 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,
 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.

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”

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

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).

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).

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 of
people and economic activities in many cities are seen to overlap with areas of high-risk exposure.
 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 disproportionatel 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).

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.