community-based disaster risk management and the media media kit

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MEDIA KIT
In consultation with the offi cials of the National Disaster Management
Offi ce (NDMO) in your country you can use this information to raise
awareness of people before the fl ood, typhoon or drought season.
We hope that this information will be helpful to you in performing your
duties to save the lives of people in your country.
Community-based FLOOD Preparedness
A FLOOD is a high fl ow or overfl ow of water from a river or similar
source of water occurring over a period of time. Periods of heavy rain
can result in an extra volume of water coming into the waterways,
leading to increase in the water level of streams and rivers. A fl ood
happens when the carrying capacity of the waterways fail to hold the
total volume of increased water at any given time.
A SUPERFLOOD is a ‘fl ood of danger’ to people and settlement on a
regional or sub-national basis. It can create widespread inundation and
lead to disaster conditions. Such a fl ood may be expected every twenty
years in some river basins and every one hundred years in others.
Coastal fl oods may result from overhead rain or overbank fl ooding but
can also result from storm-driven seas overfl owing the land.
Who are vulnerable?
People who live near rivers or in low-lying coastal areas, live with
the threat of fl oods. They are vulnerable to fl oods as they live in an
area which can experience different levels of fl ooding. The closer the
waterway is to the living area on a fl ood plain, the higher the vulnerability
to fl ood will be.
Most countries in Asia experience frequent and devastating fl oods.
Because of the vast differences in topography, climate and causes of
fl ooding throughout Asia, it is only natural that wide variations in the
physical aspects and effects of fl oods will be experienced.