Many slums and informal settlements are located in geologically hazardous and low lying flood prone areas and waterways. In recent decades, preventive settlement is practiced as a measure of disaster risk reduction by relocating people from areas of high risk or disaster prone areas. Despite the residents being aware of the impact of living in disaster prone areas, the preventive resettlement, of these people, is often a complicated task as shifting of their residences can disarticulate them from their economic and social connections hence, leading them to impoverishment.
This study aimed to answer the main research question : how can preventive resettlement planning for the people relocated from danger areas be improved? This study was conducted in two-off-city resettlement sites located in Bulacan and Laguna provinces. The resettlement project was implemented to relocate informal settlements residing in different danger areas like water ways, river banks and road tracks of Makati City. The researcher tried to answer the main research question by identifying the impact of resettlement on physical safety and socio economic lives of the people and role of their participation in the relocation process.
Various literature was reviewed in line with the concept of disaster risk reduction, suitability of preventive resettlement planning in disaster risk reduction framework for people residing in areas of high risk, study of benefits and risks associated with resettlement planning, compensation principles and importance of community participation involuntary resettlement planning.
This case study research was guided by the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative information collected through questionnaire survey, key informants interview, focus group discussions, official documents and other secondary sources of information.