Relief Operations among Selected Typhoon Disasters in the Philippines: A Workplan for Disaster Relief Management

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan (NDRRMP) of the Philippines has been made to fulfill the requirements of RA No. 10121, also known as the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, of 2010.  This provided the legal basis for policies, plans, and programs to deal with all kinds of disasters that will hit the country.  There are four (4) thematic areas of the plan, namely, (1) Disaster Prevention and Mitigation; (2) Disaster Preparedness; (3) Disaster Response; and (4) Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery.  Additionally, the agency conveys a vision of a country that is “safer, adaptive and disaster-resilient Filipino communities toward sustainable development.”  Its long-term goal is to set all Filipinos, men, and women, raise awareness and understanding of DRRM to increase people’s reliance and decrease their vulnerabilities.  Under Section 3 of Republic Act 10121, the key priority area that this review focuses on is disaster response.  Disaster response is defined as “the provision of emergency services and public assistance during or immediately after a disaster to save lives, reduce health impacts, ensure public safety, and meet the basic subsistence needs of the people affected.”  However, the aftermaths of disasters have been reported to encounter several problems.  The efficiency of disaster relief operations depends upon the intensity and quality of the preparation even before a disaster occurs.  Therefore, a well-prepared disaster response plan will likely save more lives and make efficient use of the available resources.  Thus, this paper reviewed the relief operations of three disastrous typhoons in the Philippines to improve the operations of relief.  At the end of this paper, a suggestive work plan has been made to smoothly run relief operations that can be considered to improve food procurement, communication, inclusivity, quality and quantity of relief supplies, coordination and collaboration, and timeliness. Keywords: Typhoon, Disaster, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, Relief Operations DOI: 10.7176/JEES/13-7-04 Publication date:September 30th 202