Philippines disaster management reference handbook

This Philippines Disaster Management Reference Handbook offers baseline information on the country’s disaster management capability alongside background on hazards, infrastructure, laws, vulnerabilities, and other subject areas that underpin constructive disaster risk reduction. This resource is crafted to support personnel planning for or executing a disaster response operation or exercise in the Philippines alongside the country’s own responders.

The Philippines consistently ranks as one of the world’s countries most exposed to all types of hazards – storms, volcanoes, epidemics, industrial accidents, etc. Since the 2010 launch of reforms within the national legal and institutional framework for disaster management, Filipino government, military, civil society, academe, and community members have contributed to resilience building. The changes can be seen in how the country responds and rebounds after major storms. After Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) struck in November 2013, huge swaths of the country were affected, and 6,000 people were dead. Tens of thousands of Philippines military and civilian responders came to the aid of their compatriots. Twenty-one other national militaries assisted even as the international humanitarian community swung into action. Fast forward to the autumn of 2024 when a series of six tropical cyclones affected 15 million Filipinos over the course of three weeks. Although the storms caused significant damage, pre-emptive evacuations, prepositioned supplies, and well-trained citizens and first responders helped keep the death toll below 200. Moreover, the government executed most of the response with the support of its strong network of local, regional, and international humanitarian partners and made only specific requests for assistance from partner governments or militaries.