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The Importance of Disaster Preparedness in Philippines
The Philippines has been battered by many catastrophic storms and other natural and man-
made disasters since time immemorial due to its geographic location both at the typhoon belt and the
Ring of Fire. The country is prone to multiple recurring hazards such as cyclones, floods, earthquakes
and landslides. The government has devoted significant resources to build disaster capacity and
reduce population exposure and vulnerability. A focus on the Philippines with its high risk, challenges
of poverty and inequality, can serve as a model on how to build resilience and promote disaster risk
reduction (DRR). What are the policy and institutional mechanisms for disaster risk reduction
management? How important to the Philippines to have disaster preparedness?
The country has a strong set of policies, frameworks and plans for disaster risk reduction
(DRR), through which work on resilience can be grounded. The key law is the Philippine Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Act of 2010 (DRRM Law). The DRRM Act establishes local councils at
the regional, provincial, municipal, and community levels that replicate the National Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Council’s (NDDRMC) responsibilities; however, these local councils are
often understaffed or lacking professionalism and a significant gap exists as the NDRRMC cannot
supervise all the local councils. Local political leaders’ support of disaster management, local
appreciation of the importance of disaster management, funding, and training and support from the
national government determine the effectiveness of local councils. Climate change is altering the
playing field as areas that had historically not been affected by disasters, and as such had been less
likely to proactively view disaster management, are increasingly likely to face extreme, unpredictable
weather events.
It is uncertain how well disaster risk is communicated to the public, how many projects
