A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. Natural disasters like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by natural hazards. Human-made disasters like oil spills, terrorist attacks and power outages are caused by people. Nowadays, it is hard to separate natural and human-made disasters because human actions can make natural disasters worse. Climate change also affects how often disasters due to extreme weather hazards happen.
An office of emergency management (OEM) is a local, municipal, tribal, state, federal/national, or international organization responsible for: planning for, responding to, and dealing with recovery efforts related to natural, manmade, technological, or otherwise hazardous disasters by planning and implementing large scale emergency response plans/procedures, coordinating emergency assets during a disaster, and providing logistical, administrative and financial support to a disaster response effort.
Emergency management is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actually focus on the management of emergencies, Emergency management or Disaster management can be understood as minor events with limited impacts and are managed through the day-to-day functions of a community. Instead, emergency management focuses on the management of disasters, which are events that produce more impacts than a community can handle on its own. The management of disasters tends to require some combination of activity from individuals and households, organizations, local, and/or higher levels of government. Although many different terminologies exist globally, the activities of emergency management can be generally categorized into preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery, although other terms such as disaster risk reduction and prevention are also common. The outcome of emergency management is to prevent disasters and where this is not possible, to reduce their harmful impacts.
The Department of National Defense is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for guarding against external and internal threats to peace and security in the country. The Department of National Defense exercises executive supervision over the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), the Government Arsenal (GA), and Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC). It is also responsible for disaster preparation and management in the country.
State of calamity, in the context of disaster management in the Philippines, refers to a status that could be declared widespread within the country, or certain localities, in response to a destructive, natural, or man-made disaster. This measures allows the release of "calamity funds" allocated to local governments and control the pricing of basic commodities in the affected areas.
Disaster risk reduction aims to make disasters less likely to happen. The approach, also called DRR or disaster risk management, also aims to make disasters less damaging when they do occur. DRR aims to make communities stronger and better prepared to handle disasters. In technical terms, it aims to make them more resilient or less vulnerable. When DRR is successful, it makes communities less the vulnerable because it mitigates the effects of disasters. This means DRR can make risky events fewer and less severe. Climate change can increase climate hazards. So development efforts often consider DRR and climate change adaptation together.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), formerly known as the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) until August 2011, is a working group of various government, non-government, civil sector and private sector organizations of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines established on June 11, 1978 by Presidential Decree 1566. It is administered by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) under the Department of National Defense (DND). The council is responsible for ensuring the protection and welfare of the people during disasters or emergencies. The NDRRMC plans and leads the guiding activities in the field of communication, warning signals, emergency, transportation, evacuation, rescue, engineering, health and rehabilitation, public education and auxiliary services such as fire fighting and the police in the country. The Council utilizes the UN Cluster Approach in disaster management. It is the country's focal for the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) and many other related international commitments.
UN-SPIDER is a platform which facilitates the use of space-based technologies for disaster management and emergency response. It is a programme under the auspices of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) was created in December 1999 to ensure the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
Many countries around the world have civil defense organizations dedicated to protecting civilians from military attacks and providing rescue services after widespread disasters. In most countries, civil defense is a government-managed and often volunteer-staffed organization.
The National Service Reserve Corps, also referred to by the acronym NSRC, is a unit composed of graduates of the Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS) and Literacy Training Service (LTS) components of the National Service Training Program, a civic education and defense preparedness program in the Philippines. Members of this corps may be tapped by the state for literacy and civic welfare activities. In 2010 the NSRC was mandated to be accredited and mobilized for the delivery of disaster risk reduction programs and activities.
Mel Senen Sevilla Sarmiento is a Filipino politician. He was a member of the Philippine House of Representatives representing the 1st Legislative District of Samar from 2010 to 2015. He also served as Secretary-General of the Liberal Party. He served as the Vice Mayor of Calbayog from 1992 to 1995 and Mayor from 2004 to 2011 before the death of Congressman Uy. He was also the Secretary General of the League of Cities of the Philippines from 2004 to 2010. He also served as the last Secretary of the Interior and Local Government under President Benigno Aquino III after Jesse Robredo and Mar Roxas.
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030) is an international document that was adopted by the United Nations (UN) member states between 14 and 18 March 2015 at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Japan, and endorsed by the UN General Assembly in June 2015. It is the successor agreement to the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005–2015), which had been the most encompassing international accord to date on disaster risk reduction.
Delfin Negrillo Lorenzana, OLH, KGOR is a retired Philippine Army general who currently serves as the Chairman of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority since 2022. He previously served as Secretary of National Defense in the Cabinet of President Rodrigo Duterte from 2016 to 2022. He served in the Philippine Army from 1973 to 2004.
Tropical Storm Bolaven, known in the Philippines as Tropical Storm Agaton, was an early-season tropical cyclone that affected southern parts of the Philippines in January 2018. The first named storm of the 2018 Pacific typhoon season, Bolaven formed as a tropical depression near Palau on December 29, 2017. The system moved generally westwards without intensifying and made landfall over northeastern Mindanao on January 1, 2018. The depression spent the next day traversing the Philippines, making four more landfalls in the Visayas and one in Palawan. The system strengthened into a tropical storm on January 3 as it entered the South China Sea, receiving the name Bolaven. However, Bolaven weakened back to a tropical depression just a day later amid a marginal environment and dissipated on January 4 east of Vietnam.
Climate change is having serious impacts in the Philippines such as increased frequency and severity of natural disasters, sea level rise, extreme rainfall, resource shortages, and environmental degradation. All of these impacts together have greatly affected the Philippines' agriculture, water, infrastructure, human health, and coastal ecosystems and they are projected to continue having devastating damages to the economy and society of the Philippines.
Tropical Storm Sanba, known in the Philippines as Tropical Storm Basyang, was a weak tropical cyclone that affected southern and central parts of the Philippines in mid-February 2018. Sanba developed as a tropical depression in the open Pacific Ocean on February 8. The system moved generally westward while slowly developing, finally attaining tropical storm status on February 11. Soon after, wind shear caused the system to lose organization and remain as a minimal tropical storm through February 11 and 12. During this time, Sanba moved westwards then west-northwestwards, making landfall over northeastern Mindanao on February 13. The system weakened into a tropical depression before making another landfall in southeastern Negros later that day. After traversing the Philippine Islands, Sanba failed to reorganize significantly in the Sulu Sea and dissipated two days later west of Palawan.
The Philippine House Committee on Disaster Resilience, or House Disaster Resilience Committee is a standing committee of the Philippine House of Representatives.
