Abstract
Organizational Preparedness for Natural Disasters in Ozamiz City, Philippines
Russel P. Galindo, Grace V. Villanueva, Marie Rosellynn C. Enguito
The Philippines is identified as a natural disaster hot-spot and is ranked third
among the most disaster risk countries in the world. Typhoons and tropical
storms, flood, and earthquakes continue to cause thousands of human deaths and
injuries in the country despite efforts of various organizations to intensify
strategies for disaster risk reduction. Next to impacts on people, destructions in
the critical infrastructure are often the most-compelling concerns in the aftermath
of a disaster. This paper looked into the natural disaster preparedness of
government and non-government organizations directly responsible for critical
infrastructures operation and emergency management functions in Ozamiz City.
The area was selected since commercial activities are centered on coastal areas
and many of its population are located near the coastal area making it prone to
the impacts of hydrological events. This study employed the survey method.
Survey questionnaires were administered to 254 administrators and employees
from 45 organizations and follow up interviews were conducted. Overall findings
revealed that the organizations are moderately prepared for natural disasters.
However, findings from the individual category of infrastructure showed that
facilities, utilities and transportation organizations are less prepared.
Organizations responsible for electrical, fuel, gas, energy, waste and water
utilities ranked number one with lowest preparedness level. The findings of this
study may help identify vulnerabilities and strategies to improve the resiliency of
these critical infrastructures and institutions and may provide the basis to
improve local policies pertaining to disaster preparedness.
KEYWORDS: emergency, hot-spot, infrastructure, resiliency, vulnerabilities
View full text: PDF