E M

E arth qu ak es an d
M e g a cit i e s I n it i at iv e

Disaster Risk Management Master Plan

(DRMMP) implementation in
Metropolitan Manila

In partnership with
MMDA PHIVOLCS and
Quezon, Makati and Marikina Cities

Field Trip Report - Summary

April 17-22, 2005

Purpose of the Fieldtrip

To initiate discussions with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and
other city stakeholders on a consensus draft work plan and the components of a DRMMP
for Metro Manila, based on a 10-point framework proposed by the 3cd Team.

To report back to the cities, particularly Makati and Quezon Cities, about the findings from
previous work carried out by the 3cd Team, especially on the Disaster Risk Management
City Profile and compilation of Sound Practices.

To invite the City of Marikina to become the third case study city as part of the 3cd
Program in Metro Manila.

To request and obtain commitments from the 3 cities in Metro Manila and other
institutions such as PHIVOLCS and MMDA to review and comment on the DRM city
profile and sound practices compiled so far, as well as submit new ones.

To promote the use of e-learning and on-line tools, such as the knowledge base and the
map viewer, as useful and efficient risk communication tools.

Background
Metro Manila, a complex urban area that encompasses a population close to ten million
distributed in 13 cities and 4 municipalities, is one of the three pilot cities in Asia where the
3cd Program is currently being implemented.
Starting in July 2004, the Earthquake and Megacities Initiative (EMI) in cooperation with the
Earthquake Disaster Mitigation Center (EdM) in Kobe, Japan, introduced its Cross-Cutting
Capacity Development -3cd- Program, in the cities of Quezon and Makati. In January 2005,
EMI and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority signed a cooperative agreement for
the implementation of the 3cd Program in the capital region.
In August 2004, initial fieldwork and a bi-city workshop were carried out with the participation
of delegates from Makati City, Quezon City and MMDA that permitted understanding the
current structures and framework for disaster risk management (DRM) in Metro Manila1 and
identifyied several relevant DRM sound practices mainly aimed at reducing the impact of
flooding and earthquakes.
In November 2004, the Pacific Disaster Center, PDC, joined EMI in a collaborative effort to
promote shifting the vision from response management to risk management and accelerating
the process of implementating a Disaster Risk Management Master Plan (DRMMP) in
Metropolitan Manila, by building on the significant work already accomplished by different
national and international initiatives in this city.
1

EMI-EdM, Metro Manila Philippines, Disaster Risk Management Profile, December 2004

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Given the previous work done by the Pacific Disaster Center through the multi-hazard urban
risk assessment project for Marikina City and its guidelines for implementing a risk reduction
strategy2, and the excellent relationship developed by those two organizations, it was
suggested to invite Marikina to become part of the case-study cities under the 3cd Program.
In this next phase, the 3cd Implementation Team, along with city officials and other interested
stakeholders will look in detail at the main issues that have prevented the realization of the
recommendations of different projects and will assist the cities and the Metropolitan Manila
Development Authority (MMDA) in structuring a comprehensive implementation plan that
turns existing risk analysis studies into risk management instruments.

Resource Group
The unique composition of the 3cd Team facilitates the progress of the different activities
planned for the city. There is a mixture of skilled local and international professionals with
different backgrounds who provide strong leadership and an enhanced vision by combining
the local and global perspectives.
The active and dedicated participation of the EMI secretariat based in Metro Manila, the local
investigator PHIVOLCS represented by its director and his team, members of the Local
Working Group who bring in their individual knowledge but also that from their organizations
such as MMDA, the Universities and Professional Associations all have assisted during the
fieldtrip organization or providing logistics, but most importantly, by guiding the team to better
accomplish the objectives.
EMI and its partners, the Pacific Disaster Center -PDC- based in Maui, and the Earthquake
and Disaster Mitigation Center EdM- of Kobe, provide partial financial support for the
investigative and consultative work, as well as provide guidance for the research and
implementation process.

Methodology
Meetings, structured discussions, power point presentations, interviews and an evaluation
questionnaire designed to get feedback from the participants were among the tools used
during this field trip; details can be seen on the attached final agenda for the whole week
activities.
Individual meetings with the cities
Each one of the three case-study cities engaged in the 3cd Program, Quezon, Makati and
Marikina, has a different geographical setting, varies in size and population and has different
characteristics in terms of its Disaster Risk Management Organization and Development.

PDC, Multi-hazard Urban Risk Assessment for Marikina City and guidelines for implementing multi-hazard risk
reduction strategies, December 2004

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The following chart shows some of the most relevant characteristics of each one of these
cities.
Size
Population
# Barangays
Pop. Growth
City
Revenues

Land Use
Relevant
Policy

Related
Programs

Quezon
166.2 Km2
2,390,688 est. 2005
142 in four districts
1.92%
Small to medium
scale business
Services provision
Finished product
distribution
45.5% residential
Construction of
major transport and
infrastructure to
reactivate the
economy

Makati
27.36 Km2
471,379 c. 2000
33 in two districts
-0.5%
Financial and
Banking Sector
Business &
Commerce

Reducing Informal
Settlers Programs
Saving the Streams
in QC (Sagip Batis)
Barangay disaster
brigades (South
Triangle)
Health Networking
Program

Medical
Emergency
Services
Public-Private
Safety Program
Urban Renewal
Program
Home Along the
Estero
Review DM and
Development
Plans

DRM criteria is
introduced in the
city planning
procedures

Marikina
21.5 Km2
437,000 in 2004
14 in two districts
Large
Manufacturing
Firms
38% residential
Tax incentive
system to promote
industrial sector
investment
The Safety
Program, 2004.
A Comprehensive
Land Use Plan,
2003;
Long-Term Master
Plan, 2003;
Invest in Marikina
Program, 2004

The Flood
Mitigation
Strategy, 2004.

Holding individual city meetings or workshops is an approach that helps the 3cd team keep
track of particular activities in the cities, promote documentation and exchange of sound
practices and other inter-city cooperation instruments, achieve a closer contact with city
officials, facilitate one-on-one discussions and address specific needs of the city. At the
same time, the team looks for effective means to integrate those lessons in the megacity
context of Metropolitan Manila.
Therefore, a 1/2 session with the senior staff of both Quezon and Makati was hosted by each
one of these cities on Tuesday, April 19 and Friday, April 22, respectively. One key objective
was to report on the major findings from the August 2004 bi-city workshop held in Quezon
and the current state of sound practice collection in Metro Manila and the other EMI cities
engaged in the 3cd Program. On Monday, April 18, Marikina City was visited and invited to
join the program, and at the same time city officials made a general presentation related to
specific actions implemented in relationship to disaster risk management. Finally, the
usefulness of the knowledge base and a map viewer for Metro Manila was also introduced in
the discussion.
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The approach for the implementation of a comprehensive DRMMP and its expected process
was also described in these meetings in order to get the participants reactions to this
initiative. In each one of the cities, city officials received the 3cd Team and the mayors of the
cities briefly joined the workshops as to show of their support to the project.
Joint Workshop with MMDA and other Stakeholders
On Wednesday, April 20 and Thursday, April 21, the authorities and staff of MMDA received
the 3cd team, while representatives of the three above-mentioned cities, the Office of Civil
Defense (OCD), PHIVOLCS and Professional Associations also participated in this meeting,
which included 42 attendees.
Concepts such as the mainstreaming model and the Disaster Risk Management Master Plan
(DRMMP) tool were explained and discussed with the participants, along with a suggested
10-point framework prepared by the program director, Ms. Shirley Mattingly, for the purpose
of this field trip. See attachments for details.
Mainstreaming Model: Disaster reduction actions can actually take place with the
involvement of all stakeholders if mitigation and preparedness are regularly included on the
operations and functions carried out by the cities and municipalities.
DRMMP: a tool to enable local governments to establish a process and to systematically and
systemically implement a comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Agenda.
10-Point Framework: 3cd Team proposed a collective review of some of the key actions
suggested by previous studies, particularly MMEIRS and its experience from other cities.
Participants at this meeting were welcome to endorse, dismiss or change them, incorporating
what, according to their understanding, is more relevant.
The moderator walked the participants through each one of the 10 action items and promoted
their discussion based on the following aspects: (1) Relevance and Viability, (2) Importance,
(3) Resources and Constraints, (4) Implementation Process and (5) timeframe and
Ownership; inquiries were also made related to current status and impediments for
implementation.
Once the 10 action items were discussed, participants were asked to rank them according to
the priority given by the entire group.
Table No. 1

Ranking of the 10 action items

No.1. Strengthen Metropolitan Manila Disaster
Coordinating Council (MMDCC)
No.2. Promote Adoption of Disaster Management
Ordinance by each City and Municipality

10+
8

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No.3. Promote the reorganization and revitalization of

city/municipal and Barangay Disaster Coordinating
Councils
No.4. Institutionalize Local Government Framework and
Financing for Disaster Management

No.5. Enhance lateral and vertical inter-agency and

inter-governmental communication and coordination
No.6. Enhance legal basis for disaster Risk
management at national level by updating/ replacing
PD1566
No.7. Promote policies that encourage implementation
of DRR measures
No.8. Promote local government mitigation planning
through use of existing planning tools
No.9. Conduct training needs assessment and develop
capacity building programs
No.10. Strengthen Barangay level preparedness for
disaster response and relief
Note: 10= most important; 1= least important

10+
4
5
10
10

3cd Team Daily Monitoring and Evaluation Meetings

Debrief sessions to evaluate the response and major findings of the day, as well as a short
planning exercise for the next days activities were implemented as a means to facilitate
coordination and focus on the specific groups that were addressed during this visit.
Interviews
Every possible opportunity was used to request the participants in the different meetings to
read the DRM city profile and provide feedback, as well as request additional information
regarding DRM sound practices, either to complete the existing ones or to add new ones.
In this context one-on-one meetings were also scheduled with representatives of Quezon and
Makati Cities and conducted by Antonio Fernandez-EdM (as a follow up from the field work
done in December 2004), and in Marikina City by Jim Buika-PDC.
Workshop Evaluation
Participants in the MMDAs full day discussion were asked to fill out the attached evaluation
questionnaire to obtain their feedback in order to enhance future workshops. The participants
were asked to use a 1 (NO, not at all satisfied) to 5 (YES, definitively satisfied) scale to grade
the presentations, the discussions, their interest and knowledge of the topics, etc.
Preliminary results of the evaluation forms show only a 36.5% (14 respondents from 41
attendees) return of the questionnaires but an overall evaluation close to a mean value of
over 4. Antonio Fernandez-EdM Team 4 will provide final evaluation.
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Relevant Findings

Political will and advocacy at regional and local levels in Metro Manila. MMDA
authorities and the Mayors of each one of the case study cities showed their personal
interest, and engagement in the project; which indicates a high level of concern and
awareness for Disaster Risk Management organization and delivery in Metro Manila from
high level policy makers. Hence, political willingness is a positive factor in the success of
the 3cd Program and the successful implementation of the DRMMP Pilot Application in
Metropolitan Manila. Nonetheless, it was also noted that additional awareness raising
effort is needed to further educate policy makers and push the DRM agenda at all levels
in Metro Manila. There is a high-level of commitment too from key stakeholders, as
demonstrated by the efforts of the Local Investigator, PHIVOLCS, and the local team of
advisors to the project. A more formal structuring of the local advisors was suggested.

DRM efforts need a boost at the local level. According to OCDs statistics (Ref. Frank
Castillo OCD at the MMDA meeting), out of the 14 cities and 3 municipalities in Metro
Manila, only eight count on active DRM offices, five of them have operational
departments/sections/offices that count on legal support (i.e. an approved ordinance).
From the 1645 barangays in Metro Manila, only 220 have a BDCC or similar organization.

DRM efforts need stronger coordination at the metropolitan and national level. The
need to re-organize and strengthen the MMDCC as a key coordination agency was noted.
Also a better organization of the coordination between state agencies, metropolitan
agencies, and local agencies.

A city-wide initiative to disseminate and explain the findings and recommendations

of the MMEIRS project have resulted in a better understanding of the risk. Through a
combined effort, MMDA and PHIVOLCS have undertaken a sustained process of
dissemination of the findings and tools (Local Government Handbook and Guidelines)
generated through the MMEIRS project as means to provide guidelines and
recommendations to Local Governments on how to implement and improve their DRM
capacities in their localities; at present, only seven LGUs remain to be briefed on the
MMEIRS results. At the same time, PHIVOLCS and MMDA recommend to use a similar
process to disseminate this information at the barangay level and use information
technologies to provide a wider access, for example through the web pages of different
local institutions. NDCC has been also briefed and updated about the MMEIRS
recommendations; this has triggered the interest at the National level on DRM. The need
to continue the awareness raising efforts and to find ways to develop ownership at all
levels was considered to be an important task.

Potential for support for development of Disaster-resistant communities in

Metropolitan Manila is sought. MMDA and JICA have put together a new proposal for
the Government of Japan to develop the next phase of the MMEIRS Project, which will
focus on developing community-based disaster management plans. It may take several
months before a response to the proposal is provided.

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The three pilot cities are proactively implementing and planning DRM practices.
o Marikina implements concrete DRM activities. Marikina is in the process of
implementing some of the recommendations provided through the EqTap
project and shows its interest to enhancing education and awareness among
the kids and the community by establishing an interactive earthquake
educational center and promoting the use of information technology to better
communicating the risks. Relocation of illegal settlements has been a strong
issue for the city, along with orientation programs to the home owners and
business communities to better inform about the requirements of the building
codes for new constructions, a matter of concern are the existing structures
given the high cost of retrofitting measures.
o Quezon City is actively planning its DRM agenda. The City of Quezon
informed the 3cd team about a very successful economic exercise that allowed
surplus to be used on reactivating the construction sector by redoing roads to
concrete. Additional resources will be partially spent on improving the DRM
capacity of the city. Also the city is putting in place some programs to reduce
the informal settlements and requested to review and update the figures shown
in the DRM city profile of Metropolitan Manila prepared by the 3cd Program.
o Makati City introduces DRM criteria in city planning procedures. The city of
Makati is currently engaged in a process to review its DRM system, they have
felt the need for a special legislation to boost their efforts to reducing the effects
of disaster since PD 1566 and Republic Act 8185 are too broad to provide the
required legal support. A new ordinance is being promoted with the assistance
of one of the City Chancellors. Hazards are being integrated into the
Environmental Planning for the city, mainly those related to earthquakes,
flooding and soil liquefaction. The city is interested in uploading the GIS maps
produced by MMEIRS in their own GIS system for planning purposes.

An opportunity exists to strengthen DRM training modules for Metro Manila. OCD
and PHIVOLCS are conducting some capacity building and training programs at the
Barangay and school levels, in an effort to improve the BDCCs capabilities and
performance. There are some other initiatives trying to work along the same line, so the
implementation of some mechanisms to standardize the training modules were suggested
by the participants.

Metro Manila DRM process can benefit from greater private sector involvement.
There is little participation of the private sector, NGOs and professional associations in
the DRM process in Metro Manila; therefore looking for means to meet their interest in
joining these efforts could bring higher benefit to all; the reaching out process is a task
that may be best undertaken by the local and regional organizations.

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Potential collaboration opportunities between the

3cd Program and Metro Manila.
While a detailed work plan is being developed, five potential areas of intervention for the 3cd
Program seem to have emerged. They concern:

Integration of risk factors in land use and urban planning

Implementation and enforcement of construction codes and standards
Training and DRM capacity building
Use of technology for risk communication
Social and welfare aspects including how to reduce population vulnerability,
alternatives to deal with informal settlements and enhance the health sector.

Dr. Antonio Fernandez of EdM-Team 4 has taken the lead to process the information
collected during the discussions and briefings and to further collect input from key
stakeholders and the 3cd Team, with the goal of providing a draft workplan. This plan will be
evaluated by the 3cd Implementation Team and reviewed by the 3cd Program Working
Group. The outcome (An Initial Work Plan for Metro Manila) will be submitted to MMDA, the
cities, the Local Investigator and the Local Advisory Group for review and comments. Based
on this consultation process a Final Work Plan will be developed to define the 3cd program
for Metro Manila.

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