Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

       The Philippines is one of the most favorite vacation spots of typhoons, landslides, earthquakes and many other calamities.  Kidding aside, our country is prone to a lot of disasters and this is a very unfortunate fact.  Lives have been lost, homes have been broken due to these, most of the times, unforeseen calamities.  That is why disaster management is very important to learn.

       During the first part of the lecture, we were instructed to draw the things we would prepare for a disaster without talking to each other.  Each group drew what they thought they needed for a disaster and after that, there was a discussion. 

       We tackled various subtopics ranging from what to bring during a disaster (as implied by the aforementioned activity) and what to do in the actual disaster.  We also learned what to do when doing psychological help to disaster victims and how to help the victims handle the traumatic experience.  It was a very informative lecture.

       I learned that disasters are inevitable and oftentimes, unpredictable.  But there are certain ways to reduce the risks of a disaster.  An example would be: preparing a safety kit with lifesavers, flashlights, water, food ration, clothes, sweaters, jackets and the like.  Also, I was encouraged to learn some basics about what to do during earthquakes, flood and landslides.  And also, I learned how to talk with victims of disasters with tips like: do not force them to talk to you if they don't want to, don't give them false hopes etc.

      This was a very important lesson in the sense that it can be applied practically to disaster situations.  It gave us ample knowledge on the how to's during calamities and that is very helpful.