Onsite reality check of a revised site plan in San Isidro, Montalban (Rizal) where individual lots were allocated on steep slopes.

Their members come from mostly urban poor communities living in dumpsites, creeks, and areas where flooding and landslides submerged and drowned their homes. They have been asked to relocate to other areas and they wanted to be sure that where they are being relocated will not expose them to the same risks they fled from in the first place.

Site Visits

In the past year, ESSC staff and representatives from HPFPI and PACSII conducted site assessment of selected areas. These are mostly properties identified for acquisition, lots acquired already, or occupied areas being eyed for purchase in Quezon City, Rizal Province, Albay Province, Iloilo City, Davao City, Digos City, Kidapawan City. ESSC assisted in identifying the areas' vulnerability to landslide and flooding, so as to ensure not only security of land tenure, but also to enhance human security from these risks.

The group went around the sites to check out environmental indicators that can put lives and properties at risk and to relate these with site development plans for acquired lots where these were available or the actual location of houses. The environmental indicators include topography (slope incline and curvature), drainage and streams (location in a catchment, evidence of shallow groundwater, springs, seepages), features associated with past landslides, and others. The assessment at the micro-level allowed for the identification of specific lots, block areas, or houses that have high risk to landslide or flooding.

ESSC shared immediate inputs onsite and the groups found these of value in their site planning and management. They in turn shared their history of occupation or acquisition of the sites, their perceptions of and responses to the risks as well as disaster experiences and their plans in relation to the inputs shared to them. In a few acquired sites, ESSC's inputs complemented the government's geohazard assessments.

The appearance of the base of coconut trees is a common indicator of ground conditions.  Is it straight or bowing on their sides.

Developing a guide manual for site selection, site planning, and site development

A manual on landslide and flooding risks is being put together to serve as a practical guide for HPFPI and its member-associations. The manual primarily aims to strengthen the current community-led shelter initiatives, particularly in integrating flooding and landslide disaster risk reduction in the selection, planning, and management of urban poor housing sites. Ensuring safer and sustainable housing must start from a comprehensive understanding of the landscape and knowing the conditions within the housing site and its surroundings that are impacting to be able to respond appropriately.

For the low-cost housing groups, strengthening the associations' disaster risk reduction, resilience, and adaptation efforts can be integrated in their community-led shelter initiatives in the three areas of site selection, site planning and development, and site management. Taking into account the potential of climate change in worsening future landslides and flooding, there is emphasis on practical adaptation measures that housing groups can undertake to reduce or avoid people's exposure to flooding and landslide risks (site selection and site planning). This can also address existing risks under normal conditions (site management) that also contribute to managing their risk exposure during extreme situations and increasing their resilience after a disaster.

Self-relocation from vulnerable risk areas to relatively safer housing sites is a proactive risk reduction or avoidance measure. Landslide and flooding risks largely have to do with location conditions: ideally, lands to be used for housing must be suitable for building on. In the selection of new housing sites and assessment of currently occupied areas, the manual aims to assist housing groups in identifying indicators of slope instability and flooding in the landscape to guide their initial assessment of prospective sites. Basic information on landslide and flooding can guide the housing groups on what signs, onsite and off-site, indicate favorable or potentially problematic conditions. Being able to conduct informed preliminary site assessments which they can validate with specialists, will help them choose relatively safer locations and avoid post-payment costs if, for instance, a significant portion of a lot they already paid for is not safe to build on. Through sound judgment on land selection, self-financed relocation efforts of the poor will not only ensure their security of land tenure but also reduce their vulnerability to flooding and landslide. It is advisable to seek geohazard assessment from government agencies or assisting organizations.

Further, having initial information of their sites will enable the housing groups to engage effectively with engineers they hire for their site planning, as well as geologists whom they consult or hire for geohazard identification or assessment. Building on local knowledge, housing groups should maximize their technical services to increase their awareness of their housing sites and guide their site planning and management. This will also aid them in complying with related regulatory requirements of various government agencies that will ensure the consistency of these separate and uncoordinated requirements.

For housing associations that opt to stay in their current housing locations, a basic understanding of landslide and flooding risks is also intended to guide the members to know more about their risk contexts, so that they can be better informed in their responses. Knowledge of the signs of danger can help them access timely advice. There are practical adaptation and risk reduction measures that housing groups can already implement to address immediate risk conditions in their housing sites. At the same time, this can help them improve their site conditions in the long-term and cope with large-scale climate change impact, increasing their self-reliance in the face of major landslide and flood events.

Strengthened capacities of the poor through awareness and preparedness

Strengthening the capacity of housing groups through increased disaster risk awareness and preparedness (warning and evacuation) is key and must accompany housing site management. Improving housing site conditions can minimize people's risk exposure during extreme rainfall events. However, recognizing that the impact of extreme events and climate change will be massive, community-based adaptation measures in vulnerable housing sites may not provide protection against major flood or landslide conditions. Preparedness does not guarantee that homes, livelihoods and property are saved, but timely and organized evacuation can save lives. Since major landslide and flooding disasters occur beyond the boundaries of the housing site and has the potential to impact broad areas, there is a need for synergy of the efforts of the associations, HPFPI and PACSII with the local government units and other partners.

HPFPI, PACSII and the partnership with ESSC

HPFPI is a national network of around 200 urban poor associations that share the aspirations of having secure housing sites, improving their living conditions and alleviating their poverty as well as protecting the human dignity and rights of the poor.

PACSII is a non-government organization that supports HPFPI in various community-led efforts of low-income urban communities to initiate solutions to various problems they face. Among these problems are lack of land tenure to the lands they are occupying; vulnerability to flooding, landslides and other risks common in urban poor settlements; and lack of access to social services and affordable credit.

ESSC values the opportunity to work with low-income urban groups towards integrating landslide and flooding risk reduction in the selection of relocation sites, planning on site development, and upgrading and management of currently occupied sites. Dallay Annawi, Iris Legal, and Pedro Walpole, SJ of ESSC compose the main team that is implementing this work.