DISASTER AND MENTAL HEALTH
What is a Disaster?
- are natural or man-made events wherein
communities experience severe danger
and incur loss of lives and properties
causing disruption in its social structure
and prevention of the fulfillment of all or
some of the affected community’s
essential functions
- often described as the result of the
combination of: Exposure to a hazard;
the conditions of vulnerability that are
present; and insufficient capacity.
- Disaster = Hazard x Vulnerability
What is Vulnerability?
- refers to conditions, locations,
characteristics, habits that render a
community prone to suffer from the effects
of hazards that turn into a disaster.
- Characteristics of a community, system or
asset that make it susceptible to the
damaging effects of a hazard.
What is a Hazard?
- is a phenomenon that poses a threat to the
people, structure or economic assets and
which may cause a disaster. It could be
natural or man-made.
- A dangerous phenomenon, substance,
human activity or condition that may cause
loss of life, injury or other heakth impacts,
property damage, etc.
Types of Disaster
 Natural Disasters – natural event that causes
great damage or loss of life.
 Man-Made – caused by human action or
inaction
Characteristics of a Disaster
 Size (scope, intensity and duration)
 Cause (natural vs human)
 Expected/Unexpected
 Timing
CAUSE
- Natural
- Human-caused
- Na-tech (natural event leading to technical
failure)
- Public health emergencies
COMMON REACTIONS
 Expectable reactions based on exposure to
extreme stress
 Range of possible reactions makes early
assessment challenging and underscores
importance of establishing a positive and
supportive recovery environment
 Dynamic, not static - reactions evolve over
time and are influenced by the disaster life
cycle
PROXIMITY AND THE DOSE-RESPONSE
RELATIONSHIP
 Those most exposed to a disaster typically
will have the most immediate needs and
perhaps more serious psychological
consequences
 Main convergence of aid and supportive
services are at the epicenter of a disaster
 However: Intense reactions are not predicted
by this alone and even those who do not
have direct exposure may have strong
reactions
Top Disasters in the Philippines
1. Fire - combustion or burning, in which
substances combine chemically with oxygen
from the air and typically give out bright
light, heat, and smoke.
2. Flood - an overflowing of a large amount of
water beyond its normal confines, especially
over what is normally dry land.
3. Typhoon - a tropical storm occurring
especially in the region of the philippines or
the china sea.
4. Earthquake- a sudden and violent shaking of
the ground, sometimes causing great
destruction, as a result of movements within
the earth's crust or volcanic action.
5. Landslide - the movement of rock, earth, or
debris down a sloped section of land.
Landslides are caused by rain, earthquakes,
volcanoes, or other factors that make the
slope unstable.
Why is Philippines prone to Natural Disasters?
 The Philippines is vulnerable to almost all
types of natural hazards because of its
geographic location.
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 THE LOCATION OF THE PHILIPPINES IN THE sectoral, inter-agency, and community-
PACIFIC RING OF FIRE. IT IS THE AREA based approach to disaster risk
WHERE TWO MAJOR TECTONIC PLATES management through the formulation of the
(PHILIPPINE SEA AND EURASIAN PLATES) National Disaster Risk Management
MEET AND IS HIGHLY-PRONE TO Framework.
EARTHQUAKES AND VOLANIC ERUPTIONS.
THIS ALSO EXPLAINS THE EXISTENCE OF Presidential Decree No. 1566
Presidential Decree No. 1566 which was
EARTHQUAKES, TSUNAMIS AND AROUND
promulgated on June 11, 1978 is the current basis of the
300 VOLCANOES IN THE COUNTRY, IN Philippines' disaster management arrangements. This law
WHICH 22 OF THESE VOLCANOES ARE provides for the National Disaster Coordinating Council
ACTIVE. (NDCC) as the highest policy-making body on matters
 The Philippines lies east of the Pacific pertaining to disasters.
Typhoon Belt. The typhoons originating from
the western north pacific generally move
easterly or north easterly and most often
enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility
(PAR). This explains why an average of 20
typhoons enter the Philippine Archipelago
every year of which five (5) are said to be
destructive.
 As an archipelago with 7,107 islands,
the threat of tsunami affecting the
country’s coastal areas is not far-fetched.

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
- Disaster preparedness refers to measures FOCUS ON REDUCING DISASTER RISKS
taken to prepare for and reduce the effects IDNDR (International Decade for Natural Disaster
of disasters. That is, to predict and, where Reduction) : to reduce, through concerted international
possible, prevent disasters, mitigate their action, especially in developing countries, loss of life,
impact on vulnerable populations, and poverty damage and social and economic disruption
caused by natural disasters
respond to and effectively cope with their
consequences. ISDR (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction):
o Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) focus on ways and measures to reduce the impact of
disasters
 Policy objective of anticipating
and reducing risk
o Disaster Risk Management (DRM)
 Refers to the implementation
of DRR.

Republic Act 10121, May 2010

- is the law that strengthen the Philippine
disaster risk reduction and management
system, provide for the national disaster risk
reduction and management framework and
institutionalize the national disaster risk
reduction and management plan,
appropriate funds therefor and for other OFFICE OF THE CIVIL DEFENSE
purposes related to disaster risk reduction - Has the primary task of coordinating the activities
and management programs and functions of various government agencies
- The Act shifted the policy environment and and instrumentalities, private institutions and
the way the country deals with disasters from civic private institutions and civic organizations
for the protection and preservation of life and
mere response to preparedness. RA 10121
property during emergencies.
provides a comprehensive, all-hazard, multi-
DISASTER AND MENTAL HEALTH
- The operating arm and secretariat of the
NATIONAL DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND
MANAGEMENT COUNCIL
THE FOUR DRRM THEMATIC
AREAS
1. Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
a. Avoid hazards and mitigate their
potential impacts by reducing
vulnerabilities and exposure and
enhancing capacities
communities.
i. Early warning systems
ii. Flood forecasting
monitoring
iii. Hazard and risk mappings
iv. Structural interventions
v. Vice Chairperson: DOST
2. Disaster Preparedness
a. Establish and strengthen
capacities of communities to
anticipate, cope and recover from
the negative impacts of emergency
occurences and disasters.
i. Planning and policy-making
ii. Prepositioning and stock-
piling
iii. Capacitating and organizing
responders
iv. Training, drills
exercises
v. Pre-Disaster
Assessment
vi. Vice Chairperson: DILG
3. Disaster Response
a. Provide life preservation and meet
the basic subsistence needs of
affected population based on
acceptable standards during or
immediately after a disaster.
i. Rapid Damage Assessment
and Needs Analysis
ii. Issuance of advisories and
situation reports
iii. Activation of Clusters and
Incident Command System
iv. Mobilization of responders
v. Humanitarian Assistance
(eg relief distribution)
vi. Provision of financial
assistance
vii. Management of evacuation
centers
viii. Vice Chairperson: DSWD
4. Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery
a. Restore and improve facilities and
living conditions and capacities of
affected communities, and reduce
risks in accordance with the
“building back better” principle.
i. Post-Disaster Needs
Assessment
ii. Review of policies and
plans
iii. Reconstruction using “build
of back better” approach
iv. Resettlement
v. Provision of new sources of
and livelihood
vi. Vice Chairperson: NEDA
(National Economic and
Development Authority)
EARLY WARNING SYSTEM (EWS)
- the provision of timely and effective information,
through identified institutions, that allows
individuals exposed to a hazard to take action to
avoid or reduce their risk and prepare for
effective response
and
Risk
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