A. The Philippines is a diverse country. It has a lot of landforms and water forms. It is comprised of more or less than 7,107 islands, with a total land area of 300,000 km2. The highest peak is Mt. Apo (9,690 ft/2,954 m), on the island of Mindanao, and the lowest point is the Philippine Sea, which is 0 m/0 ft (sea level). The Philippines lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire, which causes the country to have frequent seismic and volcanic activity. The Philippines has 2 seasons: Wet and Dry. During the Wet season, the Philippines experiences a lot of rain, causing floods and landslides. Geography affects the conditions people have to live under in a certain area. Because of those different conditions, settlers have to adapt to the environment and change/create a culture. For example, places beside the river beds, like Marikina, must learn how to cope with the overflow of the river.
B. The Philippines is prone to natural disasters, particularly typhoons, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis, lying as it does astride the typhoon belt, in the active volcanic region known as the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” and in the geologically unstable region between the Pacific and Eurasian tectonic plates. The Philippines also suffers major human-caused environmental degradation aggravated by a high annual population growth rate, including loss of agricultural lands, deforestation, soil erosion, air and water pollution, improper disposal of solid and toxic wastes, loss of coral reefs, mismanagement and abuse of coastal resources, and overfishing. According to Greenpeace Southeast Asia, the Philippines major historical river, the Pasig River is now biologically dead due to negligence and industrialization. Currently, the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources has been busy tracking down illegal loggers and been spearheading projects to preserve the quality of many remaining rivers that are not yet polluted. For example, in Marikina, it keeps on flooding due to its proximity to the river. In the Antipolo, there are several landslides because it is located on the side of a mountain.
C. Disaster Preparedness Plan
1. Pre-disaster Phase: Activities in this phase are designed to develop a strong Village emergency response capability and to organize all levels of administration to assure full utilization of all resources by completing the following:
a) Conducting special training in lieu of the disasters
b) Public distribution of information
c) Developing strategies on what to do during a disaster
d) Appoint someone per district to head the operations on their district.
2. Disaster Phase: During this phase, the operational activities of the Ayala Alabang Village will be accelerated to increase the state of preparedness of the village population to meet and cope with an impending or imminent disaster – if warning is sufficient. The disaster phase shall include all of the following:
a) In the event of a disaster with little or no warning – A designated rescue team will rush to the disaster site. The rescue team must have all needed first aid tools.
b) In the event of a disaster with a warning- Rescue teams should be at the supposed disaster site, fully prepared, before the disaster is to happen.
3. Recovery Phase: During this phase, Village administration, the Fire and Police Departments, Facilities, Maintenance, and Operations, and other departments as needed will undertake operations necessary to administer to the sick and injured, restore law and order, stop on-going loss, repair damage to facilities and utilities, establish housing for displaced students, and provide class and laboratory facilities destroyed, damaged and or otherwise made unusable by a disaster. The Village will try to do everything to restore whatever the disaster destroyed in the Village.
