Disaster Risk Reduction and Management and its Implications for CRM: The case of Tigbauan and Guimbal in Iloilo, Philippines

Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) has been a popular topic of discussion in recent years due to the increase in the intensity and occurrence of disaster events. Local institutions play a significant role in DRRM particularly in planning and implementing disaster risk management mechanisms and in establishing consolidated efforts aimed at preparing for, responding to, and mitigating impacts of disasters. This paper explored the DRRM initiatives of the Local Government Units (LGUs) of Tigbauan and Guimbal in Iloilo, Philippines and identified and analyzed the the coping mechanism of the households to recurrent and extreme events. This paper contends that DRRM is not a stand-alone solution to the problems faced by the communities, rather, it needs to be integrated with other long term development plans of the local government, i.e. Coastal Resource Management (CRM), in order for it to be more effective.

Jee Grace B. Suyo received her baccalaureate in Psychology and her masters in Marine Affairs from the University of the Philippines Visayas. She has been working as a Research Assistant for five years and has been involved in research projects with topics on fisheries economics and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM).