| Adaptation |
The adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. |
| Capacity |
A combination of all strengths and resources available within a community, society or organization that can reduce the level of risk, or effects of a disaster. Capacity may include infrastructure and physical means, institutions, societal coping abilities, as well as human knowledge, skills, tools, systems, processes, appropriate technologies and collective attributes such as social relationships, leadership and management. Capacity may also be described as capability. |
| Civil Defense |
Disaster preparedness and prevention activities, other than military actions, geared towards the reduction of loss of life and property brought about by natural and human induced disasters. Civil Defense may also be referred to as Civil Protection. |
| Civil Society Organizations” or “CSOs |
Non state actors whose aims are neither to generate profits nor to seek governing power. CSOs unite people to advance shared goals and interests. They have a presence in public life, expressing the interests and values of their members or others, and are based on social, ethical, cultural, scientific, religious or philanthropic and other considerations. CSOs include non-government organizations (NGOs), professional associations, foundations, independent research institutes, community-based organizations (CE-Os), faith-based organizations, people‘s organizations, social movements, and labor unions. |
| Climate Change |
A change in climate that can’ be identified by changes in the mean and/or variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period typically decades or longer, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity. |
| Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction and Management” or “CBDRRM |
A process of disaster risk reduction and management In which at risk communities areactively engaged in the identification, analysis, treatment, monitoring and evaluation of disaster risks in order to reduce their vulnerabilities and enhance their capacities, and where the people are at the heart of decision-making and implementation of disaster risk reduction and management activities. |
| Complex Emergency |
A form of human-induced emergency in which the cause of the emergency as well as the assistance to the afflicted is complicated by intense levelof political considerations. |
| Contingency Planning |
A management process that analyzes specific potential events or emerging situations that might threaten society or the environment and establishes arrangements in advance to enable timely, effective and appropriate responses to such events and situations. |
| Disaster |
A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. Disasters are often described as a result of the combination of: the exposure to a hazard; the conditions of Vulnerability that are present; and insufficient capacity or measures to reduce or Cope with the potential negative consequences. Disaster impacts may include loss of life, injury, disease and other negative effects on human, physical, mental and social wellbeing, together with damage to property, destruction of assets, loss of services, social and economic disruption and environmental degradation. |
| Disaster Mitigation |
The lessening or limitation of the adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters. Mitigation measures include but not limited to the engineering techniques and hazard-resistant construction but includes as well as improved environmental policies and programs and public awareness. |
| Disaster Preparedness |
The knowledge, and capacities developed by governments, professional response and recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover from – the impacts of likely, imminent or current hazard events or conditions. Preparedness action is carried out with-in the context of disaster risk reduction and management and aims to build the capacities needed to efficiently manage all types of emergencies and achieve orderly transitions from response to sustained recovery. Preparedness is based on a sound analysis of disaster risk, and good linkages with early warning systems, and includes such activities as contingency planning, stockpiling of equipment and supplies, the development of arrangements for coordination, evacuation and public information, and associated training and field exercises. These must be supported by formal institutional, legal and budgetary capacities. |
| Disaster Prevention |
The outright avoidance of adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters It expresses the concept and intention to completely avoid potential adverse impacts through action taken in advance such as construction of dams or embankments that eliminate flood risks, land—use regulations that do not permit any settlement’ in high-risk zones, and seismic engineering designs that ensure the survival and function of a critical building in any likely earthquake. |
| Disaster Response |
The provision of emergency services and public assistance during or immediately after a disaster in order to save lives, reduce health impacts, ensure public safety and meet the basic subsistence needs of the people affected. Disaster response is predominantly focused on immediate and short-term needs and is sometimes called “disaster relief”. |
| Disaster Risk |
The potential disaster losses in lives, health status, livelihood, assets and services, which could occur to a particular community or a Society over some specified future time period, |
| Disaster Risk Reduction |
The concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyze and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced exposures to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events. |
| Disaster Risk Reduction and Management |
The systematic process of using administrative directives, organizations, and operational skills and capacities to implement strategies, policies and improved coping capacities in order to lessen the adverse impacts of hazards and the possibility of disaster. Prospective disaster risk reduction and management refers to risk reduction and management activities that address and seek to avoid the development of new or increased disaster risks, especially if risk reduction policies are not put in place. |
| Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Information System |
A specialized database which contains, among others, Information on disasters and their human material, economic and environmental impact, risk assessment and mapping and vulnerable groups. |
| Disaster Victims |
Persons or group of persons who have been adversely affected by a natural or humaninduced hazard who have to leave their habitual places of residence due to exiting or impending threats, damaged shelter units, with casualty among immediate family members or those who remained in their habitual places of origin when still habitable but whose main so‘urce of income or livelihood had been damaged and are experiencing hopelessness and difficulty in coping or responding to the onslaught of the hazardous events on their own resources. |
| Early Recovery |
Multidimensional process of recovery that begins in a humanitarian setting. It Is guided by development principles that seek to build on humanitarian programmes and catalyze sustainable development opportunities. It aims to generate self-sustaining, nationally-owned, resilient processes for post-crisis recovery. It encompasses the restoration of basic services, livelihoods, shelter, governance, security and rule of law, environment and social dimensions, including reintegration of displaced populations. |
| Early Warning System |
The set of capacities needed to generate and disseminate timely and meaningful warning information to enable individuals, communities and organizations threatened by a hazard to prepare and to act appropriately and in sufficient time to reduce the possibility of harm or loss. A people-centered early warning system necessarily comprises four (4) key elements: knowledge of the risks; monitoring, analysis and forecasting of the hazards; communication or dissemination of alerts and warnings; and local capabilities to respond to the warnings received. The expression “end-to-end warning system” is also used to emphasize that warning systems need to span all steps from hazard detection to community response. |
| Emergency |
Unforeseen or sudden occurrence, especially danger, demanding immediate action. |
| Emergency Management A |
The organization and management of resources such as volunteers, funds, donations, food and non-food items, temporary/evacuation centers, and responsibilities for addressing all aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness, response and initial recovery steps, |
| Exposure |
The degree to which the elements at risk are likely to experience hazard events of different magnitudes. |
| Geographic Information System |
A database which contains, among others, geo—hazard assessments, information on climate change, and climate risk reduction and management. |
| Hazard |
A dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts property damage, loss of livelihood and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage. |
| Internally Displaced Persons” (IDPs) or “Persons Displaced by the Disaster |
Are persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of natural or human»induced disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border. |
| Land—Use Planning |
The process undertaken by public authorities to identify, evaluate and decide on different options for the use of land including consideration oflong-term economic, social and environmental objectives and the implications for different communities and interest groups, and the subsequent formulation andpromulgation of plans that describe the permitted or acceptable uses, |
| Mitigation |
Structural and non-structural measures undertaken to limit the adverse impact of natural hazards, environmental degradation, and technological hazards and to ensure the ability of at-risk communities to address vulnerabilities aimed at minimizing the impact of disasters. Such measures include, but are not limited to, hazard-resistant construction and engineering works, the formulation and implementation of plans, programs, projects and activities, awareness raising, knowledge management, policies on land-use and resource management, as well as the enforcement of comprehensive land-use planning, building and safety standards, and legislation. |
| National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Framework” or “NDRRM Framework |
Provides for comprehensive, all hazards, multi-sectoral, inter-agency and community-based approach to disaster risk reduction and management. |
| National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan” or “NDRRMP |
The document formulated and implemented by the Office of Civil Defense (0CD) that sets out goals and specific objectives for reducing disaster risks together with related actions to accomplish these objectives. The NDRRMP shall provide for the identification of hazards, vulnerabilities and risks to be managed at the national level; disaster risk reduction and management approaches and strategies to be applied in managing said hazards and risks; agency roles, responsibilities and lines of authority at all government levels; and vertical and horizontal coordination of disaster risk reduction and management in the pre-disaster and post-disaster phases and the budgetary resources to implement the plan. It shall be in conformity with the NDRRM Framework. |
| Post-Disaster Recovery |
The restoration and improvement where appropriate, of facilities, livelihood and living conditions of disaster-affected communities, including efforts to reduce disaster risk factors, in accordance with the principles of “build back better” |
| Preparedness |
Pre-disaster actions and measures being undertaken within the context of disaster risk reduction and management and are based on sound risk analysis as well as pre-disaster activities to avert or minimize loss of life and property such as, but not limited to, community organizing, training, planning, equipping, stockpiling, hazard mapping, insuring of assets, and public information and education initiatives. |
| Private Sector |
The key actor in the realm of the economy where the central social concern and process are the mutually beneficial production and distribution of goods and services to meet the physical needs of human beings. The private sector comprises private corporations, households and nonprofit institutions serving households. |
| Public Sector Employees |
All persons in the civil service. |
| Rehabilitation |
Measures that ensure the ability of affected communities/areas to restore their normal level of functioning by rebuilding livelihood and damaged infrastructures and increasing the communities’ organizational capacity. |
| Resilience |
The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions, |
| Response |
Any concerted effort by two (2) or more agencies, public or private, to provide assistance or intervention durihg or immediately after a disaster to meet the life preservation and basic subsistence needs of those people affected and in the restoration of essential public activities and facilities. |
| Risk |
The combination of the probability of an event and its negative consequences. Also, the probability of harmful consequences, or expected losses (deaths, injuries, properties, livelihoods, economic activity disruption or environment damage) resulting from interactions between natural, human-induced hazards and vulnerable conditions. |
| Risk Assessment |
A methodology to determine the nature and extent of risk by analyzing potential hazards and evaluating existing conditions of vulnerability that together could potentially harm exposed people, property, services, livelihood and the environment on which they depend. Risk assessments with associated risk mapping include: a review of the technical characteristics of hazards such as their location, intensity, frequency and probability; the analysis of exposure and vulnerability including the physical, social, health, economic and environmental dimensions; and the evaluation of the effectiveness of prevailing and alternative coping capacities in respect to likely risk scenarios. |
| Risk Management |
The systematic approach and practice of managing uncertainty to minimize potential harm and loss. It comprises risk assessment and analysis, and the implementation of strategies and specific actions to control, reduce and transfer risks. It is widely practiced by organizations to minimize risk in investment decisions and to address operational risks such as those of business disruption, production failure, environmental damage, social impacts and damage from fire and natural hazards. |
| Risk Transfer |
The process of formally or informally shifting the financial consequences of particular risks from one party to another whereby a household, community, enterprise or state authority shall obtain resources from the other party after a disaster occurs, in exchange for ongoing or compensatory social or financial benefits provided to that other party. |
| State of Calamity |
A condition involving mass casualty and/or major damages to property, disruption of means of livelihoods, roads and normal way of life of people in the affected areas as a result of the occurrence of natural or human-induced hazard. |
| Sustainable Development |
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two (2) key concepts: (1) the concept of “needs”, in particular, the essential needs of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and (2) the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organizations on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs. It is the harmonious integration of a sound and viable economy, responsible governance, social cohesion and harmony, and ecological integrity to ensure that human development now and through future generations is a life-enhancing process. |
| Volunteer |
Individual/person or group who for reasons arising from their socio-developmental, business and corporate orientation, commitment or conviction, contribute time, service, and resources whether full time or part time base to a just and essential social development cause, mission or endeavor in the belief that their activity is mutually meaningful and beneficial to public interest as well as to themselves. |
| Vulnerability |
The characteristics and circumstances of a community, system or asset that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard. Vulnerability may arise from various physical, social, economic, and environmental factors such as poor design and construction of buildings, inadequate protection of assets, lack of public information and awareness, limited official recognition of risks and preparedness measures, and disregard for wise environmental management. |
| Vulnerable and Marginalized Groups |
Includes individuals or groups of people that face higher exposure to disaster risk and poverty including, but not limited to, women, especially pregnant women, youth, children especially orphans and unaccompanied children, elderly, differently-abled people, indigenous people, the disadvantaged families and individuals living in high risk areas and danger zones, and those living in the road right—of— ways and highly congested areas vulnerable to Industrial, environmental, health hazards and road accidents. Included into the exposures of poverty are the marginalized farmers and fisher folks. |
