Quarter 2 – Module 5:

MITIGATION STRATEGIES:
A PREVENTION TO LOSS OF LIVES
AND PROPERTIES
 Questions: 1. What can you say about the picture?
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___________________________________________________________________________
 2. Have you experience or witness this kind of disaster? Explain you answer.
__________________________________________________________________________________
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 3. What do you think is the cause of this disaster?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
 4. How are you going to categorize the situation of the disaster in the picture? Natural disaster or
human-made disaster? Explain your thoughts.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
 5. Do we have ways to prevent or avoid this disaster from happening in the future? If there are, cite
some.
__________________________________________________________________________________
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 Direction: Read the excerpt above and answer the following questions.

 1. What is the article all about?

________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

 2. Why do you think the natural disaster killed hundreds of residents from New Bataan, Compostela
Valley?
__________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

 3. Can you think of best ways, plans or precautions to prepare in this kind of disaster? Cite your
answers.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
 INTRODUCTION
 Mitigation involves acting to reduce the risk of life or property damage
from a potentially dangerous incident. There is no way to avoid natural
disasters, but people and organizations may take steps to minimize the
harm and losses that they cause. Furthermore, mitigation is defined by
Merriam Webster’s dictionary as process or result of making something
less severe, dangerous, painful, harsh, or damaging. The National
Academies Press describes mitigation as actions taken to prevent or reduce
the risk to life, social and economic, and natural resources from natural
hazards.
Programs that intensify nation’s hazard mitigation capabilities
includes the following steps:

 1. Protection of schools and hospitals All new schools and hospitals should be located
and constructed to ensure that high-hazard areas are avoided and that special
provisions are made to reduce the potential for damage by natural hazards.
Furthermore, existing school and hospital buildings should be surveyed to determine
their resistance levels to relevant hazards.

 2. Adoption of nonstructural measures Businesses and households should adopt non-

structural mitigation measures to mitigate casualties from natural hazards and property
damage. For example, furniture and equipment can be easily secured to reduce
earthquake injuries and damage. Other non-structural steps are vegetation management
to reduce damage from wildfires, and structure position away from high-risk areas.
 3. Incorporation of mitigation into new development
Local jurisdictions should ensure that new developments are located, designed and built to
resist natural hazards. They should use hazard and risk assessment information, land use plans and zoning
regulations to limit the development of hazard-prone areas. Compatible uses of floodplains and other
hazardous areas should be incorporated into local planning and zoning so that losses 9 are reduced. Such
areas could have a high value for recreation, reserves for fish and wildlife, open space, or other community
use.

 4. Protection of cultural properties

Mitigation preparation and intervention will include preservation of libraries, landmarks,
historic buildings, art works, and other cultural resources.

5. Protection of natural resources

The mitigation plans and protection measures included in the disaster response plans
should identify particularly valuable natural resources such as endangered species of wildlife, fish,
and plants. These natural resources are not only present in the wild but also in zoos and parks.
 6. Government leadership of mitigation implementation
Government at all levels should set an example by requiring that new facilities
that they fund, regulate, or lease be designed, built, and located in accordance
with modern building codes and sound.

 7. Mitigation training
Training programs should be developed and offered with a focus on
contemporary challenges associated with mitigation implementation.

 8. Hazard-specific research
Recent disasters showed the advantages of mitigation activities, thus
emphasizing the need for research to improve mitigation practices.
 Actions or plans to protect human lives and
properties
 1. Develop and rehearse a family disaster plan—what to do if you are forced to leave home.
 2. Include a communications plan—how to contact each other if you become separated.
 3. Put emergency supplies together, one set for your home and one set for your car. Emergency supplies
will contain food, water, a kit for first aid, flashlights, a radio and several batteries. The kit should also
have flares and jumper cables inside your car.
 4. Know how to shut off your appliances and keep the resources you need in hand. Make sure other
family members know how to do that, too.
 5. Duplicate important documents such as wills, birth certificates, financial statements, insurance plans
and numbers of credit cards. Keep the originals in a box for safe deposit.
 6. Make a detailed inventory of your personal belongings, home or an apartment, garage and
surrounding property, with photographs or videos and store it in a save place.
 Landslides are also known as country slips. If your area is prone
to landslide, plant more trees, grasses, and other vegetation for
soil compaction and erosion prevention. Build mudflow or debris
flow diversion channels to steer flow away from your property.
Make sure that diversion does not affect any neighbor or property
and/or result in more substantial damage. Do not build your
house on or near steep slopes, mountain edges, drainages, or
natural erosion valleys.
 Here are some steps to consider before, during and after
a landslide:
 A. Before a Landslide
1. Be familiar with your surroundings. Watch for any changes to certain objects' presence
or positions. When there is a sudden debris flow, this could be a good indicator of an
incoming landslide.
2. Avoid open storm-water drainage and runoff as these areas are likely to receive debris
and soil from higher elevations, especially when there is a storm or heavy rainfall.
3. Be updated on news regarding the condition of your area.
4. Be aware of the disaster plans of your local government.
5. Learn and participate in emergency response and evacuation plans for your
community
 B. During a Landslide
 1. Be attentive to unusual such as cracking objects, moving debris, and
rolling boulders.
 2. Stay away from the path of debris. This is more dangerous if mudflow
occurs because it increases in strength as it meets more water from ponds or
streams and it could be aggravated by heavy rain.
 3. Stay alert and awake. Listen for unusual sounds that might indicate
moving debris, such as trees cracking or boulders knocking together
 4. Stay on an elevated and sturdy area. Avoid low-lying areas and steep
slopes.
 5. If escape is not possible, curl into a tight ball and protect your head. Find
a structure that can serve to protect you from the flow of debris.
 C. After a Landslide

1. Stay away from a slide area as there is still danger of more landslides.
2. Listen for the latest emergency information.
3. Follow warnings and instruction from the local government.
4. If the landslide is caused by rainfall, watch out for flooding as it will follow
the same path taken by the debris flow.
5. Check for injured or trapped people near the slide, and flooding as it will
follow other potential hazards. Report these immediately to the rescuers or
authorities
Sinkhole, also known as a cenote, swallet, swallow hole, or
doline. The sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground
caused by some form of surface layer collapse. Most of them
are caused by processes of karst-the chemical dissolution of
carbonate rocks or suffosion. Sinkholes vary in diameter and
depth from 1 to 600 m (3.3 to 2000 ft) and vary in shape
from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. Sinkholes
may gradually or suddenly form, and are found all over the
world.
 In an event that sinkholes are not detected earlier and it appears
suddenly, do the following:

1.Find refuge in a stable ground or open area.

2. Wait until the structures on and around the sinkhole stops moving.
Do not attempt to go back and retrieve your belongings.
3. Wait for the local government’s announcement when it is safe to
go back
 After a sinkhole’s appearance, here are the following
steps to do:

1. Stay away from the sinkhole.

2. Monitor the damages on objects. For example, if the crack gets longer or
wider the sinkhole may still enlarge.
3. Do not throw anything into the sinkhole. Anything thrown into it may
contaminate the groundwater.
4. Secure whatever is left of your properties and relocate to safe grounds,
preferably far from this location because the same bedrock or soil profile may
characterize the vicinities of the sinkhole.
 Activity A. Instruction:
As a grade 12 students like you, what are the actions or plans should you
take to protect you and your family and property from future risks?
Give 5 mitigation and precautionary measures for rainfall-
induced landslide and sinkhole.
1. ____________________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________________________
 Activity B. Instruction:
List down at least 5 possible examples of precautionary measures implemented
in your area in case of the following:
A. Landslide
1. ____________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________
B. Sinkhole
1. ____________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________
 ASSESSMENT
 Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of paper.

1. Which of the following best define mitigation?

a. Mitigation means to decrease the high risk of loss of life or property before the
upcoming disaster.
b. Mitigation refers to action taken to prevent or reduce the risk to lives,
properties, social and economic activities, and natural resources from natural
hazards.
c. Mitigation reduces injuries and loss of life; trauma; damage to property,
equipment and infrastructure; community disruption; and economic,
environmental, and other losses caused by floods and flash floods.
d. All of the above
 2. It occurs when the spaces underground become bigger and the layer of bedrock above it
can no longer support the weight above it, a collapse of the land surface dramatically
takes place.
 a. groundwater b. rocks c. sinkholes d. none of these to
follow.

 3. Which of the following actions or plans is/are needed to safeguard human life and
property?
 a. Which of the following actions or plans is/are needed to safeguard human life and
property Include a communications plan
 b. Develop and rehearse a family disaster plan
 c. Make a detailed inventory of your personal belongings, home or an apartment, garage
and surrounding property, with photographs or videotape.
 d. All of the above
 4. Which among the following is not included in the steps to protect your home
from the next flooding?

a. Purchase flood insurance to protect your financial future.

b. Construct protection barriers to stop floodwater from entering the home.
c. Be relaxed, do not do anything and wait for the barangay officials to do the precautions needed in your
home.
d. Develop a flood response plan based on your flood protection level, local warning procedures, and the
amount of warning time you will have to respond before the flood comes.

5. Which is/are the possible way/s to mitigate rainfall-induced landslide in a landslide prone area?

a. Plant more trees, grasses, and other vegetation to prevent erosion and for compaction of soil.
b. Do not build your house on or near steep slopes, mountain edges, drainages, or natural erosion valleys.
c. Build channels for diversion of mud-flow or debris flow to direct the flow away from your property.
Make sure though that diversion does not affect any
d. All of These
 4. Which among the following is not included in the steps to protect your home from the next flooding?
a. Purchase flood insurance to protect your financial future.
b. Construct protection barriers to stop floodwater from entering the home.
c. Be relaxed, do not do anything and wait for the barangay officials to do the precautions needed in your
home.
d. Develop a flood response plan based on your flood protection level, local warning procedures, and the
amount of warning time you will have to respond before the flood comes.

5. Which is/are the possible way/s to mitigate rainfall-induced landslide in a landslide prone area?
a. Plant more trees, grasses, and other vegetation to prevent erosion and for compaction of soil .
b. Do not build your house on or near steep slopes, mountain edges, drainages, or natural erosion valleys.
c. Build channels for diversion of mud-flow or debris flow to direct the flow away from your property. Make
sure though that diversion does not affect any
d. All of These
 6. Which of the following is NOT an appropriate mitigation to rainfall-induced landslide? a. Be familiar
with your surroundings.
b. Be updated on news regarding the condition of your area.
c. If escape is not possible, curl into a tight ball and protect your head and hide in a structure that
can serve to protect from debris.
d. Avoid open storm-water drainage and runoff especially when there is a storm or heavy rainfall.
7. Which of the following show an INAPPROPRIATE action to do DURING rain fall induced landslide?
a. Stay on an elevated and sturdy area and avoid low-lying areas and steep slopes.
b. Be attentive to unusual such as cracking objects, moving debris, and rolling boulders. c. Stay away
from the path of debris and mud-flow occurs from uplands, and hillsides areas.
d. Go outside and check for injured or trapped people near the slide, and flooding and report these
immediately to the rescuers or authorities
 8. Which of the following is an inappropriate action to do AFTER landslide?
a. Listen for the latest emergency information.
b. Check for injured and trapped persons near the slide, without entering the direct slide area.
c. If the landslide is caused by rainfall, watch out for flooding as it will follow the same path taken by the
debris flow.
d. Wait until the structures on and around the sinkhole stops moving and do not attempt to go back and
retrieve your belongings.

9. It doesn’t happen on flat ground because gravity caused the earth to travel downwards. What is it?
a. groundwater b. landslide c. sinkholes d. water

10. Which of these is not a sign of a possible rainfall-induced landslide?

a. two full moons two nights in a row
b. soil that loosens and moves away from foundations
c. cracks or unusual bulges on cemented ground or walls
 11. Assuming that you are not in immediate danger, which of these is a sensible thing to
do before evacuating your home due to a landslide?
a. run extremely fast b. get distracted by television or radio
c. panic and scream, causing chaos and disorder
d. turn off all electrical items and the main switch

 12. Which of the following is/are warning sign/s that a sinkhole may be forming?
a. discolored water c. structural cracks in walls or floors
b. wilting vegetation d. all of the above

13. Which of these can trigger a landslide?

a. an earthquake b. a heavy
rainstorm
c. removal of material from the base of a slope d. all of the above
 14. When is the best time to make an evacuation plan before rainfall-induced landslide?
a. I don't need an evacuation plan
b. as soon as possible, if not done already
c. while your house is slipping down a hill
d. whenever you have time; the chances of a landslide are very slim

15. What should you do if there is sinkhole in your place?

a. run as if there’s no danger around

b. call a friend and check the bottom of the sinkhole
c. call on emergency hotline and report it immediately
d. ignore it and let people see the sinkhole by themselves