Skip to main content

Manila Earthquake: Pre-Crisis Information Mapping Survey and Consultation

Countries
Philippines
Sources
HCT Philippines
Publication date

In support of the Humanitarian Country Team’s (HCT) earthquake contingency plan, the Community of Practice (CoP) on Community Engagement conducted a series of pre-crisis information mapping surveys and consultations in 10 selected barangays.
This took place from May to July 2017 and covered the cities of Quezon, Valenzuela, Marikina, Pasig,
Malabon and Manila.

The HCT’s CoP was tasked to identify the level of cooperation of various humanitarian agencies and local government in the collation of relevant pre-crisis materials including community baseline information with sex, age and disability disaggregated data.

The general objective of the pre-crisis information mapping survey and consultation is to better understand and validate information on the vulnerabilities, capacities, and preferences on the type of relief and humanitarian assistance that the community may need once a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hits Manila.

For this mapping survey and consultation, it is imperative that the voices or the preferences of the community are reflected as these will be useful in the future humanitarian response programming. They should also be the driving force in pre-positioning, at the minimum, the overall response actions.
Complementing the earthquake preparedness initiatives by the identified local government, at-risk communities, and other non-government organizations in Metro Manila, the mapping and consultation exercise analyzed the actual needs of the most vulnerable, marginalized, less visible, and less vocal members of the at-risk communities.
The CoP members that conducted the mapping survey and consultation are as follows: Assistance and Cooperation for Community Resilience and Development Incorporated (ACCORD), Action Against Hunger, Care, Caritas, Community and Family Services International (CFSI), Coalition of Services of the Elderly (COSE), Handicap International, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA), National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), Philippine Red Cross (PRC), SkyEye, World Vision, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA).

The key findings and analysis cover the following: 1) preferred aid and priorities via households and focus group discussions and key informant interviews per barangay an with emphasis on the lifesaving and evolving needs of the affected communities from 72-hours, days, weeks and months after the earthquake; 2) feedback of the most vulnerable and marginalized members of the community, including feedback on the conditions and challenges at the evacuation center and the perception on the government’s support; 3) overall preparedness and response capacity of the barangay; 4) gaps in local capacity and possible support mechanisms from other organizations; and 5) existing partnerships of the barangays and other organizations.

The methodologies used for the mapping survey and consultation includes: 1) use of the pre-crisis information/data mapping tool, which has sets of questions on aid preferences, information needs, preferred communication channels, and accountability mechanisms; 2) household or per family-based survey/consultation; 3) focus group discussions (FGDs) on persons with disabilities, elderly, women and children; and 4) key informant interviews (KII) with Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (BDRRMC) members and other community networks.
Recommendations are as follows:

  1. The HCT should advise cluster members and other thematic working groups to integrate the different needs of the affected communities into the overall Manila earthquake contingency plan based from the pre-crisis results.

  2. The pre-crisis information mapping survey and consultation result should be integrated within the BDRRM plans of each barangay to improve the following: a) overall earthquake preparedness capacity, b) identification of support mechanisms from other agencies or organizations and c) obtaining the affected communities’ voices, suggestions, and feedback.

  3. The pre-crisis mapping tool should be further used in other Metro Manila barangays to validate or assess the preferred aid and support of the affected communities. This is to facilitate getting the right assistance to the community members as fast and appropriately as it should be when a 7.2 magnitude earthquake happens.

  4. The mapping survey and consultation results must be shared to the selected barangays as part of closing the feedback and consultation loop.

  5. Ways to work with other government agencies to improve or integrate the tool with existing platforms that engage communities in any form of pre-crisis information or preparedness initiative must be identified.

  6. Additional inclusivity components must be integrated into the pre-crisis information mapping survey and consultation tool as needed and required.

  7. Engagement of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement volunteers and international nongovernment organizations with its other local networks or partners should continue as part of the mapping survey and consultation exercise in Metro Manila.