INTRODUCTION

The Philippines is considered as the second largest archipelago next to Indonesia. It has more
than 7,100 islands covering 291,179 km2 in the westernmost Pacific Ocean. Among other
nations, the country can be placed among the top priority hotspots for global conservation due to
its megadiversity (International, C. 2013. Biological diversity in the Philippines. Retrieved from
http://www/eoearth.org/view/article/150648 on April 16, 2015).

As a matter of fact, the

abundant bodies of water surrounding the country provides extensive opportunities for
international trade and commerce and a source of marine resources for the people(National
Disaster Response Plan, June 2014). However, the country is situated in the Pacific Rim which is
an area exposed to different naturally-occuring disasters (Capistrano, M. Natural Disaster
Reduction: National Disaster Response and International Cooperation, Retrieved from
www.adrcasia). Thus, the said bodies of water serve as the birthing ground of hydrometeorological hazards such as caustic typhoons, monsoon causing landslides, flashfloods and
massive flooding. A series of destructive hydrological hazards happened in 2012-2013 which
affected over four million (4,000,000) people and killed more than 10,000 people (National
Disaster Response Plan, June 2014). Aside from the mentioned hydro-meteorological related
hazards, the country also sits near the Pacific Ring of Fire which causes periodic earthquakes
due to collision of plates. The occurrence of natural disasters in the Philippines can be
categorized as frequent, varied, and severe and a combination causing the country to be attentive
to disaster reduction (Capistrano, M. Natural Disaster Reduction: National Disaster Response
and International Cooperation, Retrieved fromwww.adrcasia).
According to statistics, Philippines is the 3rd most vulnerable to disaster risks and natural hazard,
10th most vulnerable to climate-related disasters for the period 1991-2010, and 5 th most
vulnerable country in terms of forecasted global sea level rise. Moreover, there are about 20
average numbers of typhoons with 6-9 landfalls occurring in the country per year. Also, there are
23 active volcanoes and 26 potentially active volcanoes which might pose seismic hazards
during their eruption (Retrieved from http://www.gov.ph/government-information-duringnatural-disasters on ______ 2014). With the afore-mentioned calamities, billions of people
usually suffered due to loss of properties and most seriously due to loss of lives. Thus, a need for

something that will aid in responding to these naturally-occuring disasters was developed. It led
to the preparation of the National Disaster Response Plan (NDRP) under the Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Capacity Enhancement Project (DRRM-CEP) of the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the Office of Civil Defense (OCD),Government of
the Republic of the Philippines. The development of the NDRP as an official document that can
be used by all government agencies in times of disaster. NDRP serves as the Philippine
Governments response to hydro-meteorological hazards and is the first per hazard typeof
response plan concerning the national level. This NDRP for hydro-meteorological hazards can be
revised and updated accordingly by the OCD and the Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD) being the Sub-Agency for Response.
There are three disaster phases of the NDRP which include Pre-Disaster, During Disaster, and
Post Disaster. Aside from these disaster phases, there are cross-cutting activities done by member
agencies in coordination with other agencies. These are early warnings, rapid assessment, early
recovery, post disaster needs assessment and mobilization of resources.
The same with Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), NDRP is a holistic approach
towards achieving the most suitable plan in alleviating the effects of disaster. It is true that
occurrence of calamities is inevitable but still a way on dealing with it must not be neglected.
The involvement of each agency in the NDRP is very essential in order for the NDRP to work
into place. Compliance with the assigned duty to a specific agency entails a well-run NDRP.
NDRP is regularly updated through workshops and seminars conducted by the involved agencies
so as to ensure a timely way on combating the problems that existed in the previous one. In that
way, a problem that happened in the past will not happen again.
BODY
Objectives of NDRP
The NDRPs primary objective is to guarantee and efficient and well-coordinated response to
hazard causing calamities and disasters by the National Government at all levels including its
instrumentalities by providing support assistance to all affected areas or local government units.
As stated under the Local Government Code (RA 7160), all LGUs are mandated to prepare and

respond to all disasters or casualties that might happen within their area of jurisdiction (NDRP,
June 2014).
The NDRP makes use of full utilization of all available government resources, non-government,
INGOs and the private sector before seeking help from higher entities. This is to promote selfreliance and mutual help among involved agencies and sectors. The manner of response that will
be provided by the National Government is highly dependent on the capacities and capabilities of
the different levels of the local government units (Province, City, and Municipality) as well as
involved agencies of the national government. This is because it is a joint responsibility of the
national and local government. Their level of preparedness is a dictating factor towards
achieving high effectiveness of the plan (NDRP, June 2014).

Legal Basis of NDRP

NDRP was based on the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan (NDRRMP)
which satisfies the requirement of RA No. 10121 of 2010. This is an act strengthening The
Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management System which provides the legal basis for
policies, plans and programs to deal with disasters. The NDRRP covers the following thematic
areas (Miller,et.al, 2006):
1. Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
Occurrence of natural disasters is inevitable. However, in the Mitigation Phase, the severity
of the said disaster can be reduced so as to minimize losses and damages. For instance, the
occurrence of natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes cannot be prevented; events
that often result from these occurrences can be prevented and mitigated. Steps taken and
implementation controls prior to the occurrence of the said disaster resulted to the prevention
and mitigation of the ensuing events.
2. Disaster Preparedness
Preparedness is all about setting everything in order before the occurrence of disaster as set
by the disaster recovery plan. There are five general steps involved in preparedness and
these are enumerated as follows:
a.) Identification of the threats and its causes;

b.) The way a company will function upon the strike of disaster and knowing the possible
critical and non-critical areas;
c.) Identification of suppliers and customers that need not stop operation while ensuring that
contact lists and communication links fall into place;
d.) Preparing for the unavailability of supplies and business locations; and
e.) Ensuring that every member of the team (from management to employees) assumes and
understands their own responsibility;
3. Disaster Response
Emergency Response includes immediate actions taken in order to deal with a disaster or an
emergency. In this phase, the emergency itself should be addressed as well as the problems it
caused. The core of the emergency response is the collaboration of different resources with
corresponding implementing procedures in order to achieve the immediate organizational
objective during a disaster. Saving lives and ensuring safety of all affected personnel are the
primary goals of an emergency response. Proper safety equipment, evacuation plans and
linkages with safety authorities fall into place come along with saving lives.
4. Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery
Resume normal processing is the top most priority of the Recovery phase. In here, normal is
dependent on the processing objectives as set in the disaster recovery plan. The severity of
the disaster usually dictates the possible operation of a certain establishment or group. It is
possible that an events operation resumes within one week, one month or never at all after
the occurrence of the disaster. As an example, during Hurricane Andrew, there was an
advance plan executed by BellSouth and Cellular and secured over 100 cell sites, and linedup outside vendors prior to the event resulting to a less severe impact of the event and
shortened recovery period (Blake, 1992).
In addition, due to the bad impact of disasters, the Department of Public Works and
Highways (DPWH) is guided by the principle, building back better.
The stated thematic areas correspond to the structure of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Council (NDRRMC). In accordance with the law, the Office of Civil Defense
(OCD) is responsible for the formulation and implementation of the NDRRMP. Further, the OCD

ensures that the plan is strictly followed concerning the physical framework, social, economic
and environmental plans of communities, cities, municipalities and provinces are consistent with
such plan. There exists a consistency between the NDRRMP and the National Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Framework (NDRRMF). NDRRMP serves as the guide in disaster
risk reduction and management (DRRM) to the country. On the other hand, the NDDRMF
envisions the country as safer, adaptive, and disaster resilient Filipino communities towards
sustainable development. A paradigm shift from a reactive to proactive DRRM was conveyed.
In here, there was an increased awareness of the people regardless of gender in understanding
DRRM (National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan, NDRRMP, 2011-2028).

NDRP in Perspective
Insert Figure 1.1.
The NDRP imposes the necessary activities that must be executed during a disaster response in
order for the affected LGUs to assume their response functions. Since NDRP is a collaboration of
different government agencies, included in its contents are the specific roles and responsibilities
of organizations/institutions during the disaster/emergency phase of the disaster. Further
discussion in the details of actions is shown in Operations Protocol in the succeeding part of
the paper (NDRP,2014).
The development of coordination mechanisms and identification of activities in order to achieve
coherence in the implementation of the DRRM policies are included in the mandate of the
NDRRMC as specified in the PDRRM Act. The Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) and the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) are the agencies responsible for the
development and assurance of the implementation of national standards in order to carry out
disaster risk reduction programs mentioned in the four thematic areas from data collection and
analysis, planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. The OCD is specified as the
lead agency in facilitating coordination, mobilizing resources for response and information
management including communications. Besides heading the Response Cluster of the
NDRRMC, DSWD is tasked to provide Technical Assistance and Resource Augmentation
(TARA) along Camp Coordination and Management. Also, part of its duty is the proivison of
Food and Non-Food Items to the affected families. During the response phase of disaster, other

agencies aside from OCD and DSWD shall be responsible for the response actions to be
determined and defined as national strategic policy. At this point in time, the inclusion of Search,
Rescue and Retrieval (SRR) and Management of the Dead and the Missing (MDM) in the NDRP
is one of the top most priority actions taken within the abrupt period from 2011-2013 in the
NDRRMP 2011-2028 (NDRP,2014).

Plan Assumptions
Scenario Based
The NDRP is drafted assuming a worst-case scenario for each type of disaster. DSWD together
with eight (8) Response Clusters agreed on this approach since they believe that a major disaster
can cause billions of damages to properties and can kill billions of people. Having the mindset of
the worst-case scenario, different government agencies in different levels may it be national,
regional or local will be prepared to the most of their capacity and capability.
Tiered Response
At the National Government level, there are two approaches that can be considered to know the
type of response the NDRP is providing. First, is for the augmentation to the operation of the
affected LGUs. In here, the response assistance coming from the national government will be
based on the Regional DRRMCs that have proven their diminishing levels of capability and
capacity in order to provide assistance to their respective provinces, cities and municipalities
affected by disaster. Second, is for assumption of functions of LGUs in providing response
assistance to their affected population. In here, there is assumption of the response activities
based on the fact that there is no information coming from and going through the affected areas
within 6-12 hours after landfall of hydro-meteoroligical disaster. With this scenario, an
immediate deployment of Rapid Deployment Team/s (RDT) to conduct Rapid Damage And
Needs Assessment (RDANA) and Aerial Surveys and installation of National Operation
Center(s) or Hub(s) as needed will be done by the National agencies through activation of their
own response team taking the initiative for disaster response.

Promotion of system accountability and command control is exhibited in the tiered response as it
adheres to the capacity and capability of the LGUs in response to the needs of their constituents
during the time of disaster. The NDRP is built on the following understanding:

Each government agencies and instrumentalities have their own respective Disaster

Preparedness Plans;
Preparation and implementation of Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plans
particularly preparedness activities that are directly connected to response like
prepositioning of key assets and resources was performed by the Local Government Units

(LGUs); and
The Cluster Approach to response has been cascaded to all levels of government both
national and local.

The intensity of response of the National/Regional agencies is proportional to the severity and
magnitude of the emergency. International Government Organizations (INGOs), NonGovernment Organizations (NGOs), (Civic Society Organizations) CSOs and private
organizations will mobilize and respond quickly. A well-tested coordination system/structure can
be exhibited during the occurrence of most devastating disasters wherein the full range of
government response including that of other organizations will be utilized depending on the
capacities required.
In line with the provisions of RA 10121, the jurisdictions of the different levels of the local
government system together with the mandates stated in the Local Government Code must be
acknowledged. Hence, activation of systems and mechanisms put into place before a disaster or
emergency including the cluster coordination system, Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and
the Incident Command System (ICS) must be done.
Concept of Response System under the NDRP