Concept, Principles, and

Relevance of Disaster
Risk Reduction
Content Standard
The learners demonstrate umernderstanding of disaster risk reduction.
Performance Standard
The learners shall be able to:
* develop a community emergency preparedness plan and community
disaster preparedness plan to minimize vulnerability and disaster risk in the
community and avoid or limit adverse impacts of hazards.
Learning Competencies
The learners are able to:
* discuss the key concepts, principles, and elements of DRRR; and
* recognize the importance of DRRR on one’s life.
Specific Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, the learners will be able to:
1. understand the principles of disaster risk reduction and
management, and
2. apply these principles in their everyday lives

Communicating Learning Objectives

Introduce the following learning objectives using any of the
suggested protocols.
1. I can identify the elements of disaster risks
2. I can enumerate and apply the key principles of disaster risk
reduction in my daily life.
Disaster risk reduction(DRRR) is a term used for reducing and
preventing disaster risks. It is founded on the principle that while hazards are
inevitable, its adverse effects like lost lives and|or destruction of property are
not. There are steps that we can do to ensure reduction of risks. DRR
actions can be political, technical, social, and economic.

Before we proceed to the principles to DRR, it is essential that we first

understand what a “disaster” actually entails.

Defining the concepts of Disaster Risk

I. Disaster
II. Risk
III. Hazard
 IV. Vulnerability
V. Capacity

Disaster- a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a

society involving widespread human, material, economic, or environmental
losses and impats, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or
society to cope using its own resources.

Disasters are often described as a results of the combination of several things:

the exposure to a hazard; the condition of vulnerability that are present; and
insufficient capacity or measures to reduce or cope with the potential negative
consequences. Disaster impacts may include loss of life, injury, disease and
other negative effects on human, physical, mental, and social well-being,
together with damage to property, destruction of assets, loss of services,
social and economic disruption and environmental degradation.
 RISK HAZARD
The word “risk” has connotations: in Defined as a “dangerous
general usage the emphasis is usually phenomenon, substance, human
placed on the concept of chance or activity or condition that may cause
possibility on an event and its negative loss of life, injury or other health
consequence, such as in “the risk of an impacts, property damage, loss of
accident”; where as in technical livelihoods and services, social and
settings the emphasis is usually placed economic disruption, or
on the consequences, in terms of environmental damage”
“potential losses” for some particular Hazards can be single, sequential or
cause, place and period. combined in their origin and effects.
 VULNERABILITY CAPACITY
Defined as the characteristics and Defined as the combination of all the
circumstances of a community, system strengths, attributes and resources
or asset that make it susceptible to the available within a community, society
damaging effects of a hazard. or organization that can be used to
Vulnerability is a set of prevailing or achieve agreed goals.
consequential conditions arising from Capacity may include infrastructure
various physical, social, economic and and physical means, institutions,
environmental factors which increase societal coping abilities, as well as
the susceptibility of a community to human knowledge,
the impact of hazards
 RISK HAZARD
The term disaster risk therefore Each hazard is characterized by its
refers to the potential (not actual) location, intensity, probability and
disaster losses, in lives, health likely frequency.
status, livelihoods, assets and The hazards of concern to disaster
services, which could occur in a risk reduction are hazards that arise
particular community or society from a variety of geological,
over some specified future time meteorological, hydrological,
period. oceanic, biological, and
technological sources, sometimes
acting in combination
 VULNERABILITY CAPACITY
Vulnerability also comprise various skills and collective attributes such
physical, social, economic, political as social relationships, leadership
and environmental factors that affect and management.
the ability of communities to respond
to events.
It is important to differentiate hazard from disaster. The phrase “natural disaster”
which is widely used often causes confusion and has been the subject of debates.

“Strictly speaking there are no such things as natural disasters, but there are
natural hazards. A disaster is the results of hazard’s impact on society. So the
effects of a disaster are determined by the extent of the community’s
vulnerability to the hazard (conversely, its ability, or capacity to cope with it).
This vulnerability is not natural, but the result of an entire range of constantly
changing physical, social, economic, cultural, political and even psychological
factors that shape people’s lives and create the environments in which they live.”
Interaction between Risk, Hazard, Vulnerability and Capacity Hazards
do not necessarily constitute disaster. Disasters are usually described in terms
of the effects which a hazard has on lives, property, environment and the cost of recovery
or rehabilitation.

Risk (R) = Hazard (H) x Vulnerability (V)

Capacity (C)
Disaster Risk or Risk can be mathematically described as the product of the combination
of three elements that were discussed: hazard, vulnerability and capacity, and it given by
the formula.
Hazards will always be present, therefore, disaster reduction strategies primarily include
vulnerability and risk assessment. The following are some factors that can affect the
vulnerability of a community:
1. Political factors
I. A community’s vulnerability can be linked to political will and commitment to
developmental concerns
II. Lack of access to resources, infrastructure, basic services and information can
increase vulnerability
2. Economic factors
I. Poverty has the single most important influence to vulnerability
II. Economic status also relates to the capacity of a community to cope and
recover from adverse effects
III. Poverty eradication and creation of sustainable livelihoods are essential part
of disaster risk reduction
3. Physical factors
I. Access to suitable land, proper housing design, building materials and
accessibility of emergency services
II. Poor physical environment exposes people to hazards such as landslides,
floods, fires, wind, disease and epidemics.
4. Social factors
I. Level of education, training, safety and security, information and
awareness, cultural beliefs, traditional values contribute to social wellbeing
II. Lack of awareness and access to information can result in increase of
vulnerability
5. Environmental factors
I. Scarcity of resources in a community can reduce the coping solutions and
recovery from a disaster

Disaster Risk Reduction Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is the concept and
practice of reducing disaster risks through analysis and management of the
causal factors of disasters. It leads to reduced exposure to hazards, lessening
of vulnerability of people and assets, effective management of land and the
environment and improved preparedness for adverse events.
Disaster risk reduction usually requires long-term planning across sectors and
must be integrated into general national and regional development strategies.
DRR strategies usually begin with plans for assessing
(a) the hazards and risks that threaten the target area,
(b) the extent of harm that would occur to communities and infrastructure,
and (c) the vulnerable people’s capacities to cope with and recover from
possible disasters.
Figure 1: Shows the key components of DRRR and Management

Disaster Risk Management

Disaster Risk Reduction Disaster Management

Prevention Mitigation Adaptation Preparedness Relief Recovery

 PRE-EVENT
Prevention -The outright avoidance of adverse impacts of hazards
and related disasters. Prevention expresses the concept and intention to
completely avoid potential adverse impacts through action taken in advance.
Can be in the form of proper land use or using suitable engineering design.
(However, oftentimes complete avoidance of losses is not feasible and the
task transforms to that of mitigation)

Mitigation- The lessening or limitation of the adverse impacts of hazards

and related disasters. While the adverse impacts of hazards often cannot be
prevented fully, their scale or severity can be substantially lessened by
various strategies and actions. Mitigation measures involve a wide range of
elements from engineering techniques to environmental policies and even
public awareness
Adaptation - The adjustment in natural or human systems in response to
actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or
exploits beneficial opportunities. This definition addresses the concerns of
climate change and is sourced from the secretariat of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Preparedness- The knowledge and capacities developed by governments,

professional response and recovery organizations, communities and individuals
to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover from, the impacts of likely,
imminent or current hazard events or conditions. Preparedness action is carried
out within the context of disaster risk management and aims to build the
capacities needed to efficiently manage all types of emergencies and achieve
orderly transitions from response through to sustained recovery.
 POST EVENT
Response- The provision of emergency services and public assistance
during or immediately after a disaster in order to save lives, reduce health
impacts, ensure public safety and meet the basic subsistence needs of the
people affected. Disaster response is predominantly focused on immediate
and short-term needs and is sometimes called “disaster relief”.

Recovery- The restoration, and improvement where appropriate, of

facilities, livelihoods and living conditions of disaster-affected
communities, including efforts to reduce disaster risk factors. The
recovery task of rehabilitation and reconstruction begins soon after the
emergency phase has ended, and should be based on pre-existing
strategies and policies that facilitate clear institutional responsibilities for
recovery action and enable public participation.
The concept of disaster has changed over time. In early human civilization,
many cultures viewed disasters as a sign of bad luck or an act of God.
However, the development of science started changing this perception of
disasters.
Some of the factors that contributed to this change are:
1. Social science
I. Treat hazards as external agents that communities can identify and react
to II. See disasters as expression of social vulnerability
2. Natural science
I. Emphasis on the hazard component – hydrometeorological, geodynamic
and/or technological
II. Understanding the dynamics of hazards
III. Quantifying the impacts of hazards
3. Recent studies on disaster risk
I. Understanding of disaster in both social and natural science perspective
The key components of DRR and how it is applied to different communities
is not complete.
It, however, provide us with very good starting point for DRR.
THANK YOU !!!