BUILDING A

CULTURE OF
DISASTER
PREPAREDNESS:
Moving Towards
Social Contracting
Iris Legal and Dallay Annawi
Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC)
 OUTLINE
Cultural (and sectoral) definition
Circumstances: environmental and social
Role of forests: challenging conventional
wisdom
Ondoy: awakening ‘culture’ of mistrust
and finger-pointing
Building block: social contracting
Moving forward: management scheme
and strengthening governance
 DEFINITION: DISASTER
Primarily define personal
disaster
Loss of life
Loss of home
Loss of livelihood
Loss of community
Context of Faith: “God does
not kill” yet disaster
viewed as judgment from
God or timely reminder of
reality and responsibility
 DEFINITION: DISASTER
For government:
beyond numbers &
extent
Broader scope of
area loss -
infrastructure &
production
Logistics
Bigger budget
allocation & donor
world
 CIRCUMSTANCES:
Environmental
Earthquake, seismic activity,
tsunami
Volcanic eruption
High tides
Increasing rainfall intensities,
duration
Heightening coastal waters
Landuse change
Debris floods & landslides
Floods on the plains
Riverbank floods
Narrow coastal area floods
 ROLE OF FORESTS:
Challenging conventional
wisdom
1. Forests increase
rainfall

 Forests have
limited effect on
rainfall but have
significant effects
on cloud formation
and circulation,
especially in
maritime areas.
 ROLE OF FORESTS:
Challenging conventional
wisdom
2. Forests insure
dry season
river flow
 Forests
increase dry
season flows
when soil
infiltration
capacity is
improved.
 ROLE OF FORESTS:
Challenging conventional
wisdom
3. Forests
prevent
erosion and
sedimentation
 Certain trees
if planted in
the wrong
sites will
critically
affect the
water table
and water
availability
during their
 ROLE OF FORESTS:
Challenging conventional
wisdom
4. Forests prevent landslides
 Forests in areas with good soil
conservation/ protection measures in
place will check erosion but cannot
prevent deep landslides.
 ROLE OF FORESTS:
Challenging conventional
wisdom
5. Forests prevent floods
 Forests reduce stormflows but cannot
eliminate worst floods.
 CIRCUMSTANCES: Social
Upland & coastal social isolation
Poor perception of risks
Lack of perceived options
Lack capacity to act
Some faulty evacuation
Limited city & municipal planning &
enforcement
Increasing urbanization
Upland shifting subsistence
Degrading forest, soil, water, coastal
The poor ends in worst circumstance with limited
resources
understanding, will, linkage & process + weak
governance
 Ondoy Experience
Culture of mistrust, blaming
and finger-pointing

 Compartmentalized
governance
 Poor understanding of
risk
 Limited local planning
and enforcement

Awakening from dawn: need for

‘real-istic’ disaster
preparedness, adaptation, and
mitigation schemes
 SOCIAL
CONTRACTING
Disasters are the concern of society as a
whole.

Society must act as one in addressing

disaster risks.

A social contract primarily captures the

distinctive cultural relationship with the
environment, a relationship which is
founded upon a reciprocity and respect of
the rights of and obligations to nature.

The community is bound by its understanding

of as well as responsibilities to the natural
environment. This cultural reference
provides a working foundation for formal
 SOCIAL
CONTRACTING
A social contract is an on-going
process that is continuously negotiated
through partnership and dialogue. It is
grounded on the premise that, while
little can be done about the natural
conditions, there is much opportunity
for necessary changes and actions that
address disaster risks and mitigate their
damaging impacts.
“Much has been learnt from the creative
disaster prevention efforts of poor
communities in developing countries.
Prevention policy is too important to be
left to governments and international
agencies alone. To succeed, it must also
engage civil society, the private sector
and the media.”

Kofi Annan, IDNDR Programme Forum, Geneva, July 1999

 COMMUNITY ADAPTATIONS
Diversity of landslide and flooding
risk contexts and responses
 Organized urban poor
communities setting up family or
community savings program for
housing development
 Community awareness and
preparedness of site mapping,
geo-hazard ECC results
 Local warnings established:
barbecue stick as gauge to
indicate need for immediate
evacuation
 Bamboo footbridges and rafts to
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
Implemented through
collaborative work with
organized communities
 Wide easement for
floodway control
project
 Relocation sites
accessible to market
and livelihood
 Consultative process of
engineering
 Well structured
relationship with
community – relocation
 MANAGEMENT SCHEME
Disaster management scheme includes:

Pre-disaster preparation: warnings, evacuation,

services
Disaster (event): managing peoples’ safety
Post-disaster: (risk reduction) adaptation,
mitigation, and social contracting

While we can’t eliminate natural hazards, we can

minimize risks by strengthening governance and
resiliency of people
 STRENGTHENING
GOVERNANCE
Appropriate planning & governance key to
disaster reduction

RISK management involves:

Understanding the risk
Generating awareness
Establishing area information
Supporting processes for implementation
Setting up policy, legal controls, &
enforcement
Adapting & mitigating development
 LESSONS LEARNED: Understanding
risk and generating awareness
Better ask the questions first rather than later
Slope
Is the lot on or near a steep slope? Does it lie on
flat terrain?
Is it within a concave or convex slope?
Drainage and streams
Is there a spring or seepage within or near the lot?
Ponding? Sinkhole?
Are there streams within or near the lot?
Is the lot on a riverbank, near a stream?
Are there gully formations?
 LESSONS LEARNED: Understanding
risk and generating awareness
Better ask the questions first rather than later
Evidence and oral history of past landslides and flooding
Are there scarps, slumps? Signs of landslides?
Do long-time residents have memory of landslide/flood?
Are there debris caught in the branches of trees or bamboo?
Vegetation
Are the coconuts or trees bowed at their bases?
Location
How far is the site from the reach of mudflows?
How close is the lot to a mountain edge or hill?
 LESSONS LEARNED: Understanding
risk and generating awareness

Better ask the questions first rather than

later
Flood plains – more extensive flooding due
to a buildup of water in a generally wet area
Round slumps in flat area indicative of old
river bed
Sediment banks, natural shifting or
humanly diverted streams
Signs of migrating rivers especially near the
coast that can change paths
Infrastructure that diverts or retains
water/land
Cutting off hills to create a level plain or for
landfill elsewhere
 LESSONS LEARNED: Understanding
risk and generating awareness

Better ask the questions first rather than later

Mountain slopes and mud flows

Exposed rocks
Estuarine flooding due to high tides,
sometimes compounded by heavy rainfall
Warnings or disaster preventive measures
Seek local knowledge and history of disasters
area from different cultures if in area
Problematic neighboring areas
Names of places indicative of landscape or
event: kangkongan, nilad, batohan, busay,
patag, taytay, isla verde
 WAYS TO MOVE FORWARD
1. SCIENTIFIC: Studying the parameters – pre
conditions and triggers
 Pre-conditions and pre-disposing: land
cover and change, soil management and
type, slope, river network, geology
 Triggers: rainfall, duration and velocity,
(pore) pressure and discharge
 Sea level rise and climate change potential
 Indicators of environmental risk
 WAYS TO MOVE FORWARD
2. NATIONAL: Knowing the places of risk – mapping
and governance
 Mapping: DENR-MGB, PAGASA, Philvolcs
conducting geo-hazards and risks assessment in
the Philippines
 Governance: translating government geo-hazards
and risks assessment for local government and
community integration to land use planning and
development plans
 Technical capacity: upgrading PAGASA’s
forecasting tools; linkaging among government,
research, and academic institutions
 Disaster coordination system: reviewing national,
regional, and local disaster coordination
 WAYS TO MOVE FORWARD
3. COMMUNITY AND LOCAL: responsibilities and
adaptations; allocation and land suitability
 Improve people’s perception of risk whether
out of limitation in knowledge or sense of
helplessness and resignation and fatalistic
attitude even with adequate information
 Livelihood options need to be developed:
longer-term employment skills
 Governance question: What are the roles of the
standing and receiving local government units
in community-initiated relocation efforts?
 Integration of disaster risk reduction and
adaptation in school curriculum
 WAYS TO MOVE FORWARD
4. GOVERNANCE: access to basic services and
livelihood
 National government need to set up systems to
make public lands available for relocation and
housing or acquire private lands
 Disaster creates high demand for land, taken
advantage of by some private landowners
 Livelihood options in safe areas with services
support
THANK YOU