CHAPTER III: Introduction to Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM)

Concept of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is the concept and practice of reducing disaster risks
through systematic efforts to analyze and minimize the causal factors of disasters. Examples
of DRR include improving preparedness for adverse events, lessening exposure to hazards
and therefore the vulnerability of people and property, as well as strategic management of
land and the environment.

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and

reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as
we as dealing with the environmental and other hazards that trigger them.

Disaster risk reduction is conducted through efforts that aim:

• To reduce the level of exposure to hazards
• To reduce the degree of vulnerability of people, communities, infrastructure, assets,
processes, services, etc.
• To increase the level of preparedness of communities
Evolution of Concept and Approach

Since the 1970s, international agencies, governments and civil society have attempted
to examine the causal factors of disasters in order to gain a deeper understanding of why
disaster occur and why certain adverse effects are so dramatic in particular areas. The aim of
these organizations was to develop a systematic and integrated approach to reduce the
impact of disasters on society and to focus on preventive measures. Over the four decades,
DRR has evolved from a narrowly perceived technical discipline, to a broad-based global
movement focused on sustainable development.

DRR focuses on the following three activities:

➢ Mitigation: reducing the frequency, scale, intensity and impact of hazards.
➢ Preparedness: strengthening the capacity of communities to withstand, respond to
and recover from hazards, and of government and implementing partners to establish
speedy and appropriate interventions when the communities’ capacities and
overwhelmed.
➢ Advocacy: positively influencing the social, political, economic and environmental
issues that contribute to the causes and magnitude of impacts of hazards.
United nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)
-It is created by UN General Assembly in December 1999.
-It serves as the focal point in the UN system for the coordination of disaster reduction
activities of UN and regional organizations.
-Core areas of work include; ensuring DRR is applied to climate change adaptation,
increasing investments for DRR, building disaster-resilient cities, schools and
hospitals, and strengthening the international system for DRR.
-It coordinates the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, providing guidance for
implementation of the Hyogo Framework; issuing the Global Assessment Report on
Disaster Risk Reduction; supporting countries in monitoring risk trends; and leading
global campaigns for DRR.

The Hyogo Framework for Action

-A comprehensive blueprint that offered guiding principles, priorities for action and
practical means for achieving disaster resilience for at-risk populations with the
 ultimate goal of minimizing the loss of lives and social, economic, and environmental
assets when hazards strike.
- It encouraged governments to incorporate DRR activities on national and local levels
by emphasizing national legislation reform, modifying existing policies and
restructuring organization and civil society programs.

There are several aspects to disaster risk reduction:

▪ Disaster mitigation: Structural and non-structural measures undertaken to

limit the adverse impact of natural hazards; for example, planting mangroves
to reduce the risk posed by tidal surges or raising awareness of natural
hazards through school-based education projects.

▪ Early Warning: The provision of timely information enabling people to take

steps to reduce the impact of hazards. e.g., access to information by local
people concerning an approaching typhoon or tropical storm.

▪ Disaster Preparedness: Measures that help ensure a timely and effective

‘first line’ of response supported by National Societies volunteers, branches,
regional and national capacities, e.g., community action teams backed up by
National Society contingency planning and regional and international
response teams.

▪ Recovery: Decisions and actions taken after a disaster with a view to

restoring or improving the pre-disaster living conditions of the affected
community, while facilitating necessary adjustments to reduce disaster risk,
e.g., assessing levels of future risk when planning housing projects in the
aftermath of a disaster.

▪ Support to livelihoods: Projects that strengthen or diversify livelihoods that

enable individuals or households to develop strategies to reduce risk, e.g.
home gardening can improve nutrition and increase reserves in the time of
drought.

ELEMENTS OF DRR

▪ Infrastructure and assets-to assess the damage of infrastructure and assets of DRR-
related institutions.
▪ Service delivery- to assess the disruption of services provided by DRR institutions, and
access to these by affected communities.
▪ New and emerging tasks – to assess the risks that may have developed as a result of
the disaster and that, if not addressed, may deteriorate disaster conditions or put at risk
that recovery process, and to identify the measures needed to address these.
▪ The performance of the DRR system- to assess how the DRR system performed in
relation to the disaster event in question and identify the gaps and needs that must be
addressed in the recovery strategy.
▪ Building back better- to identify the capacity-building measures needed to ensure a
resilient recovery by building back better.
IMPORTANCE OF DRR

The importance of mainstreaming DRRM in the development processes such as;

• Policy formulation
 • Socio-economic development planning
• Budgeting and governance
• Land-use and urban planning

DRR Programme:

1. Support Policies and Frameworks for DRM

2. Human resource development for DRR
3. Build Linkages with Development Programmes
4. Develop broader partnership
5. Build resilience of communities and households
6. Promote Equity, Social Inclusion and Women Empowerment
7. Develop an enabling environment and mechanisms for compliance
Policies of Disaster Rick Reduction (DRR)

The policy seeks to promote priority measures to a ameliorate already existing

vulnerability to hazards, and equally important measures to ensure future development
strengthen resilience.

• Low levels of risk awareness and knowledge

• Development not “risks conscious” and DRR not yet effectively integrated
• Insufficient DRR capacity at all levels of society

PRINCIPLES OF DRR

1. Hazard Analysis- is the process of recognizing hazards that may arise from a
system or its environment, documenting their unwanted consequences and analyzing
their potential causes. The objective is to identify and mitigate hazards that can be
introduced in the requirements, design, development, testing, installation,
commissioning, operation and maintenance and disposal of a system.
The following input into Hazard Analysis process:
▪ System Description
▪ Safety Incident Logs
▪ Preliminary Hazard List
▪ Hazard Checklist
▪ Customer Requirements
▪ Regulatory Requirements
▪ People at risk
The following are the Hazard Analysis technique;
▪ Function failure Analysis
▪ Event Tree Analysis
▪ Failure Modes and Effects Analysis
▪ Cause-consequence Diagrams
▪ Hazard and Operability Studies

2. Vulnerability Analysis- is defined as susceptibility to suffer damage from an

environmental extreme and relative inability to recover from the damage.
Measurement of vulnerability should reflect the social processes as well as material
 outcomes that appear complicated but must be input to analytical and quantitative
measures hence be able to quantify vulnerability.
Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (CBDRRM)

It promotes an integration of bottom-up and top-down efforts with a starting point in the
local actors in order to strengthen community’s capacity to handle and mitigate disasters,
increase their risk awareness and reduce vulnerability.

A process of disaster risk management in which at risk communities are actively

engaged in the identification, analysis, treatment, monitoring and evaluation of disaster risks
in order to reduce their vulnerabilities and enhance their capacities. This means that the
people are at the heart of decision making and implementation of disaster risk management
activities.
A CBDRM approach responds to local problems and needs, capitalizes on local
knowledge and expertise, improves the likelihood of sustainability through genuine
‘ownership’ of strengthens community technical and organizational capacities, and empowers
people by enabling them to tackle these and other challenges. It is about listening to people.

CBDRM Approach:
▪ Local communities are the first line of defense in preparing and responding in the event of
disaster. In the hours following a disaster search and rescue and the provision of
immediate assistance to the injured and homeless are almost entirely carried out by family
members only relatives and neighbors. This is particularly the case in small-scale localized
and recurring disasters which do not appear in the media or trigger a government
response. However, these are the most common disasters and result in most losses,
affecting livelihoods and hampering local development. If the local people are properly
sensitized about the precautions and preventive actions to be taken in case of any hazard,
the loss of life and damage to property can be drastically reduced.

▪ Top-down disaster risk reduction programs often fail to address the specific vulnerabilities,
needs and demands of at-risk communities. These vulnerabilities and needs can only be
identified through a process of direct consultation and dialogue with the communities
concerned, because communities understand local realities and contexts better than
outsiders.
▪ Even the most vulnerable communities possess skills, knowledge, resources and
capacities (HR, indigenous knowledge, etc.). These assets are often overlooked and
underutilized and, in some cases, even undermined by external actors.
Challenges of CBDRM
• The bottom-up CBDRM approach needs to be plugged into/linked with the top-down
government/national DRR approach. The biggest problem is to locate the interface
where to make the link between these approaches to make then complementary and
interconnect.

• Ensuring a large-scale roll-out/replication of what are often micro-projects or pilot

initiatives. Capacity as well as resources need to be available x Limited
institutionalization of the approach with national line ministries/DRR agencies often due
to lack of a) DRR legislation at sub-national and community level (this reference is also
lacking in the HFA but will hopefully be considered in the HFA2 debate); b) insufficient
buy-in; c) lack of capacity and resources.

Emergency Plan
An emergency plan specifies procedures for handling sudden or unexpected situations.
The objective is to be prepared to:
• Prevent fatalities and injuries.
• Reduce damage to buildings, stock, and equipment.
• Protect the environment and the community.
• Accelerate the resumption of normal operations.