Risk Awareness - Disaster Risk Reduction - Amanda Regan

Post date: Apr 30, 2011 12:0:9 PM

Risk Awareness: The first steps to successful DRR (Disaster Risk Reduction) education.

Amanda Regan with Provincial Governor Damian G. Mercado, Members of the San Fransisco Municipal Government, Representatives from the Department of Education, and DRR practitioners from the INGO, representatives of Red Cross Philippines.

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is a highly complex systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster . Described by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) as a conceptual framework of elements, DRR is compiled of several components. The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) has condensed these components into 5 priorities for action . Knowledge, innovation and education are included as a priority within the HFA, although fundamentally it underpins the other four priorities, as well as any other DRR initiative. As such, awareness is the arrowhead of all education strategies.

Awareness of hazards, factors contributing to community vulnerability and capacity and therefore risk is essential for the first steps to be taken towards reducing the impact of disastrous events and promoting a culture of safety. To know these triggers would provide a useful tool to promote awareness in communities using a variety of channels. Risk awareness and perception undoubtedly go hand in hand and can be compartmentalised (Figure 1).

This report features a case study from the Philippines that resulted in the movement of a school from a location of high landslide risk to a low risk site. The movement of the school can be used as an indicator for success and by unpicking the timeline of events some mechanisms and triggers of hazard awareness within key decision makers can be identified. The transfer of the school was a result of a combination of actions of many stakeholders and was met by strong opposition from some councillors, parents, teachers and other members of the community.

Sta. Paz National High School, Southern Leyte is located in the Visayas region of the Philippines (Figure 2).

A rural province, where traditional lifestyles are prominent, southern Leyte is susceptible to a variety of hazards including volcanic eruptions, seismic activity, typhoons and landslides. Qualitative data was collected during time in the field through conducting interviews and focus group discussions with the stakeholders of the transfer.

From these interactions, this report presents an interpretation of the complex timeline of events which lead to a cascade of awareness triggered in various people, at various points through a multitude of mechanisms.

The flow diagram (Figure 3) illustrates this process.

It was clear from informal conversation with community members that prior to a series of fatal, local landslide events in 2003, there appears to have been an inherent awareness of the multi hazardous region in which the community is located. However, as no event had substantially affected the Barangay of Sta. Paz within living memory, the perception of risk appeared to be low. This event led to a heightened, localised level of awareness specific to landslide hazard and would appear to have been raised via personal connections across local Barangays.

A number events occurring at International, Provincial and localised levels, almost simultaneously, contributed to a higher level of awareness. These factors can be categorised as internal and external influences on the community of Sta. Paz.

Firstly, on an international platform, agreement to the HFA led to funding being made available by Department for International Development (DFID) for the implementation of DRR interventions. This funding and initiative was used effectively and a DRR education program was integrated into a child centred development (CCD) program already being rolled out in Sta. Paz by the locally active International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO).

The second event was a nearby catastrophic landslide in Guinsaugon, whereby over 1100 people were killed and over 800 are unaccounted for to this day. Following this event, further substantial but non-fatal landslides, were experienced across the province. The Govenor of Southern Leyte, Rosette Lerias, attended the disaster site at Guinsaugon and saw firsthand, the devastation of the event. During an interview, she expressed the compelling need she had to ensure the safety of her people and for that reason, had ordered a provincial wide hazard map to be produced by the Mining and Geoscience Bureau (MGB).

As a result of these maps, Sta. Paz was one of 5 Barangay accurately identified as being at high risk. One of a series of landslides across the region in 2006, occurred on a high slope of a steep mountain above the village. This resulted in displacement of mountain material down slope and revealed a scar of 1.5m in depth by approximately 50m wide, known to the local community as the “crack”. A further local assessment and field work by MGB revealed that this slope was particularly unstable and the village was at high risk. Both the National High School and the elementary school were situated at the base of slopes where these cracks had developed. The local community including school staff, children and the local INGO were alerted to this movement. Sta. Paz was selected as a location for the Child Centred Disaster Risk Reduction (CCDRR) education strategy after the high risk situation was raised.

Figure 4: Rainfall induced landslide hazard map, San Fransisco

This approach to DRR intervention was evidently effective and allowed the children of Sta. Paz to become an active part of the school transfer. Governor Lerias ordered the transfer of the entire Barangay to a new low risk site. This was met by very strong opposition from some members of the community, due to a perception of low or even no landslide risk. In an attempt to illustrate the possible consequences of remaining in Sta. Paz, a multimedia presentation of the tragedy in Guinsaugon was shown. This was effective to some degree, although there was still a high level of resistance. A letter writing campaign to move the school to a safer location, carried out by the students and aimed toward the Provincial government, reiterated the emergent situation in Sta. Paz. More importantly this gave the young people a voice within the community and illustrated the success of the DRR education strategy amongst the children. Where the transfer of the school met opposition from parents, children were able to inform members of their family about the danger of the ‘crack’, which again had some positive impact. The school was subsequently relocated to a low risk site in the neighbouring Barangay of Pasanon although a community referendum resulted in the community remaining in Sta. Paz. These transfers were a result of a combination of actions from many stakeholders following a triggered awareness of the landslide dangers.

The complexity of DRR education and awareness triggers are highlighted in this case and the cascade effect of this triggered awareness leading to action, is illustrated along with complications and obstructions to the process. Internal and external processes work to raise awareness. Events themselves are, understandably the strongest trigger, although the very nature of DRR is to avoid catastrophic events impacting communities. Therefore it is essential to the process that other avenues are explored. Events can work as internal or external mechanisms. Here they accounted for both. Due to firsthand experience of Guinsaugon tragedy, and the intuition to gain hazard assessments across the locality, Government officials at many levels were pro-actively involved in the transfer of the school. The ‘crack’ in the mountainside acted as an internal event raising a localised alert levels danger to the landslide risk. This case also illustrates how effective international protocol, , can be rolled out and can have a visible and effective impact on communities at risk. This mechanism drives and external process, through funding and initiation of the CCDRR project within Sta. Paz. Children can be powerful advocates for change. Once they were engaged in the CCDRR project and realised the dangers of their location themselves, they were able to act as voice these opinions contrary to their parents and move towards relocating the school from within the community, thus highlighting and internal mechanism for awareness triggered by external processes.

Although the relocation of the Barangay was declined by the majority of the community, the municipal government has secured a safe location closer to the school in the event that people wish to move. There is a perception of low or no risk within some members of the community. This shows that the process of raising awareness has failed. Deep seated political, economic and religious factors contribute to the opposition of the move and the rejection of the suggestion of living in a high risk area. This highlights the importance of considering the approach to raising awareness within a community of traditional values and strong faith while respecting the freedom of choice. Perception of no risk in this case means awareness has not yet been triggered. My hope is that a catastrophic event similar to that of Guinsaugon is not what brings the level of risk to the forefront of resident’s minds.

It is recognised that memory of disaster is relatively short lived, even by those who have been affected. There is a need for not only effective methods of triggering awareness in ‘at risk’ communities but also a need for a carefully thought out education program, tailored to the community in which it is implemented to ensure a sustainable high level of awareness thereby creating a culture of safety.

(c) Amanda Regan, BSc (Hons), MSc, Disaster Risk Reduction Advisor, DIMERSAR, 2011

[1] Wisner, 2004

[2] UNISDR, Living with Risk, 2004

[3] UNISDR, 2005