Do you remember the last heavy storm you stepped your foot in? How about the last ground shakes you felt? What if right this moment, your nape hairs start to stand and an eerie feeling chug your stomach as you sense a disaster coming up? Ask yourselves: ‘Am I ready? Do I know what to do in case something hits?’ Do you? Calamity… Catastrophe… Tragedy – different letters yet they contain the same gist. Ladies and gentlemen, a challenging morning to all of you! It’s a great pleasure to welcome you to the first Disaster Risk Reduction Management Program of the year! For the past century, our home, our earth had experienced too much. As the wrath of nature continuously engulfs our ignorant, clueless, naïve minds, natural disasters drastically increase worldwide. The floods; droughts; typhoons; earthquakes; fires; they continue to wreak havoc in poor and vulnerable communities, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, damage to infrastructure and billions of money in economic loss, globally each year. Our humane abilities are minimal to stop and hinder these tragedies but our preparedness will bring a great help to us as disaster strikes. Defining in simple terms, disasters are sudden events, such as an accident or a natural catastrophe, that cause great damage or loss of life. It can result in detrimental impacts to local communities, diminishing social and economic gains. Across local communities, the most indigent and susceptible are especially at risk and are more likely to