To familiarize everyone with key socioeconomic terms and concepts, we have this new social media series.
For this week, our buzzword is “calamity fund”.
It refers to the budget allocation intended for the aid, relief, and rehabilitation services of a disaster-affected community. It may include repair and reconstruction of damaged structures and capital expenditures for predisaster operations, rehabilitation, and other related activities.
Source: Department of Budget and Management (2017)
A PIDS study found that most local calamity funds are spent on equipment like flashlights, stoves, firefighting equipment, and early warning systems. This is followed by expenditures on evacuation center construction, then food supplies, which serve both as a preventive measure and immediate relief.
Know more about disaster spending by reading “Policy, Institutional, and Expenditure Review of Bottom-up Approach Disaster Risk Reduction and Management” available at https://pids.gov.ph/publication/discussion-papers/policy-institutional-and-expenditure-review-of-bottom-up-approach-disaster-risk-reduction-and-management.
