Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction Quiz

Hazard vs. Disaster vs. Risk

• A hazard is a process, phenomenon, or human activity that may cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts, property damage, social and economic disruption, or environmental degradation.
• Examples of hazards include biological, environmental, geological, hydrometeorological, and technological hazards.

Types of Hazards

• Biological hazards: organic origin or conveyed by biological vectors, including pathogenic microorganisms, toxins, and bioactive substances (e.g., bacteria, viruses, parasites, venomous wildlife, and insects).
• Environmental hazards: soil degradation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, salinization, and sea-level rise.
• Geological hazards: earthquakes, volcanic activity, and related geophysical processes (e.g., mass movements, landslides, rockslides, surface collapses, and debris or mud flows).
• Hydrometeorological hazards: tropical cyclones, floods, drought, heatwaves, cold spells, and coastal storm surges.
• Technological hazards: industrial pollution, nuclear radiation, toxic wastes, dam failures, transport accidents, factory explosions, fires, and chemical spills.

Disaster

• A disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic, or environmental losses and impacts that exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.

Risk

• Risk is the likelihood or possibility that an area (or section of population) will be negatively affected by a hazard; ultimately, it controls the possibility of converting a hazard into a disaster.

Earthquake Seismology

• Earthquake: any movement of the ground due to volcanic eruption or tectonic movement.
• Importance of understanding earthquakes: foreshock, main shock, and aftershock.
• Magnitude: measurement of energy released, measured using the Richter Scale.
• Intensity: damage produced and the reaction of people, measured using the Mercalli Intensity Scale.
• Types of waves: body waves (P wave and S wave), and surface waves (Love Wave and Rayleigh Wave).

Philippine Context

• Pacific Ring of Fire: a region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
• Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) are responsible for monitoring and managing earthquakes and volcanic activities.
• Executive Order No. 984 (September 17, 1984) established the PHIVOLCS.

Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) in the Philippines

• Republic Act No. 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 (DRRM Act) focuses on the application of scientific knowledge and the solution of practical problems in a physical environment.
• DepEd issuances: DepEd Order 27, s. 2015 (Promoting Family Earthquake Preparedness), DepEd Order 23, s. 2015 (Student-led School Watching and Hazard Mapping), DepEd Order 21, s. 2015 (Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Coordination and Information Management Protocol), DepEd Order No. 82, s. 2010 (Reiteration of Related Implementing Guidelines On Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction (CCADRR) In School Levels), and DepEd Order 55, s. 2007 (Prioritizing the Mainstreaming of Disaster Risk Reduction in the School System).