VULNERABILITY CAPACITY ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS BY: Jayroselyn Amancio, RN
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VULNERABILITY CAPACITY ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS BY: Jayroselyn Amancio, RN Background The Australian Red Cross is supporting the Philippine Red Cross in the implementation of Sustainability programming across 22 Barangays and 3 Municipalities in Leyte affected by typhoon Haiyan. The program goal is for Haiyan affected communities to have sustainable local mechanisms to enhance health and disaster resilience. As a component of the program Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities are targeted to increase the capacity of communities to prepare for and respond to disasters. Currently, community led Vulnerability Capacity Assessments (VCA) sessions have been conducted in the 22 target Barangays to identify and understand the level of community’s exposure to and capacity to resist hazards. The information from the VCA is intended to form the basis for identifying DRR program activities and actions to contribute towards disaster resilience. Objectives 1. Identify the vulnerabilities and capacities of the barangays 2. Assess the DRR needs of the barangays. 3. Developed recommendations and DRR activities that will address the needs of the barangays Methodology: In November 2016- May 2017, a Community led Vulnerability Capacity Assessment (VCA) was conducted by the AusRC project staff in the 22 barangays across 3 municipalities in Leyte namely Calubian, San Isidro and Tabango. The VCA used 8 different tools (Direct observation, FGD, Hazard and Resource Mapping, Historical timeline, Seasonal Calendar, Semi-Structured Interview, Transect walk and Venn diagram) in order to gather the data from each of the barangay. Ideally, a VCA report must be written for each of the barangay using all the VCA data collected from the barangays. Creating the VCA report will support the program in identifying what specific Disaster preparedness actions/activities and support will be implemented in the 22 barangays. However, due to the limited time frame of the program, the activities must be identified at an earlier stage in order to accomplish the expected outcome/output of the program. An assessment tool was developed to analyze the VCA output data collected in the 22 barangays. The tool was used to assess the VCA information and to develop specific recommendations of disaster preparedness actions/activities. Data Management and Consolidation: A VCA analysis matrix was created to be used as a tool for consolidating all the VCA information from the 22 barangays. All the information including the indicators in the matrix was taken from the 8 VCA tools (Direct observation, FGD, Hazard and Resource Mapping, Historical timeline, Seasonal Calendar, Semi- Structured Interview, Transect walk and Venn diagram). An additional information coming from the Barangay needs assessment was included in order to easily identify the DRR capacity of the barangays. Interpretation of the other tools such as the seasonal calendar and hazard and vulnerability maps were done together with the AusRC project staff (Program coordinators and Community Organizer). Analysis Process and Tools: 1. Using the consolidated data in the VCA analysis matrix, 14 key findings were identified under five (5) categories (Hazard Risk, Capacity, Planning, Equipping and Budget). The data under DRR Capacities were the main information used to determine the key findings. A simple formula was used (%= Frequency/Number of cases x 100) to determine the percentage of the barangay under specific indicator. Example: Indicator- Type of hazard identified (17 barangays / 22 barangay x 100= 77%) Key finding- 77% of the 22 Barangays identified Typhoon as the major hazard for their community due to the damaged it caused to their livelihood and shelters in the past. 2. The next step of the analysis is to be able to identify the level of potential impact for each of the barangay caused by the identified hazard. In order to determine which barangay is exposed to severe level of potential impact an internationally accepted DRR formula was used. The same formula is also utilized by Philippine Red Cross (PRC) in their VCA analysis. Potential Impact= Hazard Exposure x Vulnerability Capacity Analysis Indicators: Type of hazard identified – the result was taken from the Hazard and resource map, Historical timeline and Seasonal Calendar. All of the barangays identified the type of hazard based on the coverage of damages caused in their community in the past. Hazard Exposure- also known as the risk exposure. The result was taken from the Hazard and resource map and Historical timeline. In the hazard map the barangay has identified the level of hazard exposure as Low, medium and High but in order to use this information to determine the level of potential impact, the scale/level (Low, medium and high) was instead converted into numbers. The set of criteria used was based on the DRR and WASH comprehensive guide published by UNICEF. Hazard Exposure 0 None 1 Negligible 2 Low 3 Moderate 4 High 5 Very High Level of Vulnerability and Capacity- The result was taken from the Hazard and resource map. An additional data was also collected at the barangay level to support some of the information in the VCA tools. This was also used in order to identify the level of vulnerability and Capacity for each of the barangay. The barangay has identified the level of vulnerability and capacity as Low, Medium and High. The following scale/level was converted into numbers using the criteria based on the DRR and WASH comprehensive guide in order to determine the level of potential impact. Vulnerability/Capacity 0 Negligible 1 Low 2 Moderate 3 High 4 Very High Potential Impact- using the DRR formula shown above and a tool called the risk scoring matrix, the level of potential impact was determined. The exact process was to multiply the Hazard exposure to the level of Vulnerability and divided by the level of Capacity. Once the level of potential impact was identified, the criteria from the risk scoring matrix was utilized to determine the scale/level. The risk matrix is also utilized by PRC during VCA analysis by using the colors Green, Yellow, Orange and Red to determine the level of impact. The same matrix was modified and simplified for easy interpretation and in order to fit in the VCA analysis matrix. The data of the barangays that are high risk to severe impact can also be used in prioritizing barangays in the DRR activity planning and implementation. Severity of the potential damage/impact 0-5= Low Risk 6-10=Moderate Risk 11-15=High Risk 16-25=Extremely High Risk 3. The last and final stage of the analysis was developing the recommendation of specific disaster preparedness action/activities based on the over-all VCA consolidated data included in the matrix. Over-all, it was still ensured that the references, criteria and tools used was similar to the concept or idea of PRC. Key Findings: This section contains the key findings based on the vulnerability capacity assessment consolidated data. All the information were gathered by the AusRC staff and volunteers from the 22 barangays of the 3 municipalities namely Calubian, San Isidro and Tabango. Hazard Risk 1. 77% of the 22 Barangays identified Typhoon as the major hazard for their community due to the damaged it caused to their livelihood and shelters in the past. 2. 36% of the 22 Barangays identified themselves to be HIGH RISK to severe impact due to typhoon. 3. 5% of the 22 Barangays identified themselves to be EXTREMELY HIGH RISK to severe impact due to typhoon. Capacity 1. 100% of the 22 Barangays have a Red Cross trained Safety Service volunteers. 2. 100% of the 22 Barangays have an active DMS volunteers. 3. 32% of the 22 Barangays have a Red Cross trained and active Community health volunteer 4. 73% of the 22 Barangays have established a BDRRM council. 5. 64% of the 22 Barangays have received DRRM training from Red Cross Planning 1. 64% of the 22 barangays were able to developed a BDRRMC Plan 2. 45% of the 22 barangays were able to established a Contingency Plan 3. 95% of the 22 barangays have not conducted any DRR drills Equipping 1. 59% of the 22 barangays have been provided with Early Warning System such as Megaphone, Handheld radio, whistle, bell, floater and Flag 2. 55% of the 22 barangays have been provided with minimal equipment such as generator, ropes, boots, flashlight, hardhat, Ambulance, radio, grass cutter, axe and mini dump truck. Budget 100% of the 22 barangays have a 5% allocated Calamity funds coming from the Barangay IRA budget. General Recommendation: 1. Conduct a data validation of the VCA results involving the Brgy. Officials, LGU and community members. This will also provide better situational awareness about their community. 2. Support the Barangay in establishing their Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council. 3. Support the Barangay in the creation and establishing their BDRRM Action Plan and Contingency Plan. 4. Follow-up and review the BDRRM action plan and Contingency plan with the LGU and Brgy.Council. 5. Conduct Drills in the community as part of the preparedness measures. The drill to be conducted in the barangay will be based on the developed BDRRM Action Plan. 6. Support harmonization of the Early warning system in the Barangay. 7. Support the LGU or DILG in Informing/Orienting the Barangay Officials about the Importance of the calamity fund and how to use it effectively. 8. Conduct DRRM training for the 8 recruited DMS volunteer. RISK ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS: Hazard Exposure Vulnerability/Capacity Potential Impact: Hazard Exposure x Vulnerability 0 None 0 Negligible Capacity 1 Negligible 1 Low Severity of the potential damage/impact 2 Low 2 Moderate 0-5= Low Risk 3 Moderate 3 High 6-10=Moderate Risk 4 High 4 Very High 11-15=High Risk 16-25=Extremely High Risk 5 Very High Type of Hazard Level of Level of Potential Measure of Municipality Barangay Hazard Recommendation Exposure vulnerability capacity Impact priority identified 1.