TOTAL DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT
Initially focused on medical relief, MERCY Malaysia has evolved through the years into a full-fledged humanitarian organisation, one of the few operating in the Global South. The transition is in accordance to the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS), where it was discovered that critical needs such as drinking water and shelter are high on the priority list following a disaster.
With that, MERCY Malaysia had a paradigm shift in 2005 by adopting the Total Disaster Risk Management (TDRM) approach to our work. The TDRM approach is in line with the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), which was adopted by 168 countries at the 2005 UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan.
The HFA outlined five main action points, among them the importance of risk education as an important element to help reduce vulnerabilities.
TDRM applies disaster risk management to all the phases of the disaster management cycle – from emergency response, to recovery, prevention/mitigation and preparedness/readiness.