Disaster Risk Management In The Philippines

1499 Words6 Pages

Disasters can strike anytime, anywhere. They can cause irrevocable damage to life and property if the right measures are not put in place to avoid such occurrences. These can also bring out the best and worst of human nature. The manner by which action is taken goes a long way in determining how people fare from the experience. The Philippines has been battered by many catastrophic storms and other natural and man-made disasters since time immemorial due to its geographic location situated both at the typhoon belt and the Ring of Fire. The country is prone to multiple recurring hazards such as cyclones, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and landslides. In fact, the 2015 World Risk Report, in their World Risk Index for 2013, ranked the Philippines first (1st) out of 183 countries in terms of disaster risk, and fifth (5th) in terms of long-term climate risk for 1994-2013. Hence, there is a dire need for disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM). Through the years, the Philippines has adopted various approaches from disaster preparedness and response in the 1970s, to disaster management in the 1980s, to disaster risk management in the 1990s and eventually disaster risk reduction in the years 2005 and beyond. In 2010, the Congress passed a bill which was signed by former President Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo, which came to be known as the “Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010”. This law aims to provide for more resilient measures and actions to

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