Recent natural events in the Philippines demonstrate only too well the vulnerability of many local communities. Threats like volcanic eruptions, tsunami, earthquakes and flash floods are ever present.  There are 12 active volcanoes in the country that lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire.  It sits on active earthquake faults and has the longest broken coastline in the world making coastal communities vulnerable to tsunamis. Located on the North Pacific Basin where 75 percent of typhoons originate, the country experiences an average of 20 typhoons yearly.The potential occurrence of a disaster is always high and extensive poverty contributes to the inability of people to prepare and cope with calamitous events.

Add to this the continuing armed conflict in many regions of the country especially in the south, latent insurgency, and the targeting of journalists, mainly members of the community press.  Since 1986 more than a hundred journalists have been killed in the Philippines, described by international press organizations as having an “atrocious record for journalists’ safety.”

Disaster risk awareness is at a premium but the news media that is supposed to provide the lens through which people can understand and cope with the effects of disasters is also hobbled by many constraints including the lack of training in covering disaster situations.  Most often coverage is focused on loss of lives and property, mismanagement of relief and rehabilitation funds or skewed disaster management policies.  Critical themes like disaster preparedness, mitigation, citizen and private sector participation, government relief and rehabilitation efforts are often underreported.

At the same time attacks on journalists tend to have a widespread chilling effect.  The attacks erode the ability of journalists to investigate and report, thus depriving citizens of their right to know.

Journalists cannot do their jobs well if they are put at risk when covering both natural and human-made disasters so their training must address two key elements: (1) covering disasters as news events for better citizen awareness and understanding; and, (2) ensuring their safety while at work so that their effectiveness will not be diminished.

The project aims to heighten media – especially journalists in small towns and cities — awareness and understanding of disaster risk reduction and their vulnerabilities while covering human-made and natural events.

At the same time, the project will enhance the reporting skills of community journalists thus enabling them to produce more interesting and compelling stories on disasters and disaster risk management.

It also seeks to promote continuing exchanges between journalists on disaster risk management issues and developments through the formation of an on-line exchange network to be hosted by the proponent’s website.