International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 15 (2016) 108115

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International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijdrr

Dwelling structures in a ood-prone area in the philippines: Sense of

place and its functions for mitigating ood experiences
Danesto B. Anacio a,n, Noba F. Hilvano a, Isagani C. Burias a, Christine Pine a,
Gloria Luz M. Nelson b, Rico C. Ancog a
a
School of Environmental Science and Management, University of the Philippines Los Baos, Philippines
b
Department of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baos, Philippines

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Sense of place is a multidimensional concept consisting of place dependence, place identity and place
Received 24 August 2015 attachment aspects. These three aspects are distinct place concepts which refer to an individual's sub-
Received in revised form jective perception and his/her conscious feelings which result from daily interactions within a predened
13 January 2016
functioning environment. In order to determine how sense of place is affected by natural phenomena,
Accepted 13 January 2016
Available online 14 January 2016
this paper identied place dependence, place attachment, and place identity of residents in barangay
Tadlac, a ood-prone, lakeshore barangay located in the Municipality of Los Baos, Laguna in the Phi-
Keywords: lippines. A combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to gather and interpret data
Sense of place concerning resident's sense of place in relation to Tadlac as a ood-prone community. Results show that
Disaster-resiliency
in spite of repeated experiences of ooding events in the community, sense of place is seen as a func-
Disaster management
tional mechanism which allow residents to adapt, as well as maintain, their residency within Tadlac. In
Community adaptation
considering community responses to disasters, disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) fra-
meworks should thus incorporate sense of place as one important variable, in addition to other en-
vironmental and social variables, for interpreting the rationale of residents living in disaster-prone areas.
& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction [10] and multidimensional [11] characteristics between these con-

Sense of place refers to people's subjective perceptions and
their conscious feelings about their environments. It can be further
identied as an individual's interpretative perspective on the en-
vironment, as well as emotional reactions to his or her environ-
ment [1,2]. As a transactional process between humans and their
environment, sense of place allows a person to (consciously and
unconsciously) associate a particular place to contain a complex
bundle of meanings, symbols, and characteristics; encapsulating a
person's feelings, perceptions, attitudes and behavior towards a
place [3,4,5]. Although the way a person senses a place is one's
own unique and individual expression, there are often socially
shared meanings, beliefs, symbols, values, or feelings associated
with that particular place [6].
While existing papers have measured sense of place, it is highly
contextual since various authors' disciplinary origins carry differing
ontological and epistemological perspectives, as well as varied re-
search circumstances. As a result, there is a plurality of sense of
place concepts [7,8,9]. In spite of this diversity, there are distinctive
n
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: dbanacio@yahoo.com (D.B. Anacio).
cepts which can be categorically identied. Jorgensen and Stedman
have organized sense of place into a general framework of attitude
structure that incorporates three categorical responses to spatial
settings. These attitude structures of cognitive (mental processes),
affective (emotional processes) and conative (impulse or tendency)
variables are further interpreted as place identity, place attachment,
and place dependence, respectively [12].
Various authors have dened place identity, place attachment,
and place dependence as independent concepts not necessarily
associated with or components of sense of place. Place identity as
a cognitive process, could also refer to the categorization of self in
terms of place, which gives a particular individual a sense of
meaning or behavioral norm as a result of being immersed in a
particular place [3,13,14]. It denotes an individual's personal
identity in relation to the physical environment through complex
patterns of conscious and unconscious ideas, beliefs, preferences,
feelings, values, goals, behavioral tendencies and skills relevant to
that particular environment [15]. Place attachment, meanwhile, is
described as a positive bond that develops between groups or
individuals and their environment, and heavily contains emotional
content [11,16,17]. Finally, place dependence is described by Sto-
kols and Shumaker as an occupant's perceived strength of re-
lationship between himself or herself and specic places [18]. It

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.01.005
2212-4209/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 D.B. Anacio et al. / International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 15 (2016) 108115 109

also refers to connections based specically on activities that take
place in a setting, reecting the importance of a place in affording
conditions that serve an intended use, activities such as timber
harvesting or horse-riding, as well as the ability for that particular
environment to adequately cater for that purpose [19]. Shamai,
and later on, Jorgensen and Stedman, unied these place concepts
and other similar ideas, to refer to Sense of Place (SOP) [3,7,12].
More importantly, these differing but related concepts
contribute to the multidimensionality of sense of place as a fra-
mework for analyzing various socio-environmental phenomena,
such as disaster risk reduction and management. Dramatic chan-
ges in the physical landscape and social milieu as a result of dis-
asters could result into the non-functionality of a site or a loss of
sense of place, and that new places such as evacuation sites may
not be suitable for certain activities previously practiced [20]. This
could result into the formation of a disordered and inappropriate

Fig. 1. Tadlac in relation to the municipality of Los Baos and its other barangays, the Laguna lake (Laguna de Bay), and the province of Laguna.
110 D.B. Anacio et al. / International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 15 (2016) 108115

sense of place in newly established communities.
On a particular note, the effect on place identity becomes
salient when one's area considered as home is threatened [21].
Home and dwelling are very important in most people's lives and
consequently signicant in inuencing identity [25]; playing a
central role in everyday life; possessing rich social, cultural and
historical signicance [26]. However, disruptions to the home in-
terrupt usual and key roles which have been previously enacted,
causing identity-related issues [22,23]. Natural disasters, such as
ooding, disturb established household dynamics in housing
structures by inverting a sense of home and refuge into areas of
insecurity and instability [24].
Sense of place provides an additional perspective for enriching
frameworks on building resiliency towards natural disasters. In
order to provide insights of sense of place in disaster-prone
communities, this paper presents measurements of place attach-
ment, place identity, and place dependence of residents exposed
to ooding events. Additionally, socio-demographic factors which
may be related to the conceptualization of sense of place among
residents are identied. Finally, it aims to contribute to the
growing disaster-resilience literature by offering an analyses of
possible functions of sense of place in understanding community
adaptation to disaster-related events.
As a case for this study, a ood prone barangay (smallest admin-
istrative unit) in the Philippines is studied. Barangay Tadlac (Fig. 1),
with a total land area of 155 ha, is a lakeshore barangay located in the
Municipality of Los Baos, Laguna Province. Located on its northern
border is Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines, while on
its south border are barangays Baybayin and Malinta. Its western side
is bordered with barangay Bambang while on the opposite side is
barangay Anos. Tadlac has 293 households, comprising a total po-
pulation of 3342 as of the latest national census in 2010. Sixty (60)
percent of the residents are employed; working mainly as laborers,
technicians, shermen and retail traders [27], (barangay adminis-
trative leader, personal communication, April 6, 2014).
Extreme ooding events have occurred in Tadlac. More than
seventy (70) percent of the residents occupy bamboo/wood to
semi-concrete houses which when ooded, make dwelling struc-
tures inhabitable. During extremely heavy rains and typhoons, the
lake waters overow and ood major portions of the barangay.
Typhoon Ondoy (International Code: Ketsana) submerged portions
of the area for almost two (2) months and affected almost 70% of
the residents of Barangay Tadlac in October 16, 2009. Around 2050
persons or 485 families were evacuated from their homes. Another
ooding event occurred during the Habagat (South East monsoon
rains) episode in August 13, 2012 that affected almost 90% of the
residents of Tadlac and submerged portions of the barangay for
almost three months. More than 700 families were affected ren-
dering 1454 persons to be evacuated from the area [28]. Most
recently in July 2015, typhoons Egay (Linfa) and Falcon (Chan-
Hom) enhanced monsoon rains in the area, ooding a number of
Tadlac and nearby residents. It is observed that a rise of 200 cm in
the average water level of 10.5 m above sea level (masl) can sub-
merge most of the 136.37 km2 of Laguna de Bay shoreline, in-
cluding portions of barangay Tadlac [35,36].
2. Materials and methods
Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to identify
sense of place among residents. One instrument used is a twelve
item questionnaire (Table 1), using a four-point Likert scale
(1 Strongly Disagree, 2 Disagree, 3 Agree, 4 Strongly Agree)
which was adapted from Jorgensen and Stedman to measure levels
of place identity, place attachment, and place dependence. The
internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of the questionnaire ran-
ged from .739 (Place Dependence) to .857 (Place Attachment).
Additional questions were also asked regarding socio-demo-
graphic characteristics, height of ooding events, and evacuations
experienced as a result of ooding events. Respondents from the
whole community of Tadlac were sampled through systematic
random sampling, wherein a sampling interval of every third
household was followed, starting from the community adminis-
trative building (barangay hall). Associations between socio-eco-
nomic factors and Place Attachment (PA), Place Identity (PI) and
Place Dependence (PD) were derived through an ordinal logistic
regression model using SPSS (Version 20).
To support quantitative data, interviews were conducted. Re-
spondents from the questionnaires were chosen to present diverse
worldviews regarding their sense of place in Tadlac. Experiences
with ooding events, as well as memories which can be attributed
with sense of place were specically asked and noted. Further-
more, reasons for selecting Tadlac as their choice of residence were
emphasized, in spite of reported ooding experiences. Informants
were also selected based on their functional roles in the commu-
nity in order to capture diverse worldviews regarding ooding
events, ranging from pre-ooding scenarios, community responses
to ooding episodes, and post-ooding activities. A phenomen-
ological approach using direct quotes and Experience Use History
(EUH) or prior experiences were used to analyze a respondent's
statement. Although EUH is better associated with leisure studies
[29,30], this paper applied the concept to consider past experi-
ences of residents as a factor for determining sense of place.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Socio-demographic contexts
In the following sections, nuances between sense of place and

Table 1
Sense of place scale items.

Sense of place factors Item label Description

Place identity (reliability .783) PI1 Everything about barangay Tadlac is a reection of me.
PI2 Tadlac does not reect the type of person that I am.
PI3 Tadlac is important to my family heritage.
PI4 Tadlac says of what I like to do.
Place attachment (reliability .857) PA1 I feel relaxed when I'm at barangay Tadlac.
PA2 I feel happiest when I'm at Tadlac.
PA3 Tadlac is my favorite place to be.
PA4 I really miss Tadlac when I'm away from it for too long.
Place dependence (reliability .739) PD1 Tadlac is the best place for doing the things that I enjoy most.
PD2 I get more satisfaction living in Tadlac than any other place
PD3 I believe other places aside from Tadlac can provide better opportunities for me to do the things I like to do.
PD4 Tadlac is not a good place to do the things important to me.
 D.B. Anacio et al. / International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 15 (2016) 108115 111

Sense of Place (SOP) should be noted. Sense of place refer to the Table 3
general concept of sense of place whether on a qualitative or Housing and dwelling prole of surveyed residents in Tadlac (n 71).
quantitative context, while Sense of Place or SOP is used
Variable description Categories Frequency %
strictly when referring to the quantitative measurement of sense
of place using the Place Identity (PI), Place Attachment (PA) and Sex Male 9 12.7
Place Dependence (PD) questionnaire. Female 62 87.3
Civil status Single/unmarried/separated 12 16.9
A total of 71 households (24% of total household population)
Widow/widower 5 7.0
were surveyed of the 293 households regarding their SOP (Ta- Married 54 76.1
ble 2). The average age of respondents is around 41 years, all of Place of origin Tadlac 31 43.7
whom have at least 3 years of schooling. There is a huge gap in Non-Tadlac 40 56.3
income levels, although the average monthly income is around Primary housing material Wood 13 18.3
Concrete 15 21.1
P13,100.00 (around $1 P43). PI, PA and PD levels were generally Mixed 43 60.6
positive to items mentioned in the three SOP scales. Housing type Crudely constructed 7 9.9
In further understanding the choice of a resident (as a function Single-story structure 53 74.6
of sense of place) to stay in Tadlac in spite of the community's status 2-Story structure 11 15.5
Ownership status Rented 5 7.0
as a ood-prone area, additional factors were considered (Table 3).
Owned by relatives (caretaker) 8 11.3
Housing and dwelling characteristics, together with the socio-de- Informal settler 2 2.8
mographic prole of residents, were measured. Majority were fe- Family-owned (personal) 56 78.9
male, around 60% of the surveyed, and non-natives of Tadlac. While Type of toilet Water-sealed latrine 60 84.5
Other types 11 15.5
there were more migrants in the area, respondents have lived in
Fuel type for cooking Wood and charcoal (biomass) 26 36.6
Tadlac for an average of 27 years. All of the respondents have ex- LPG 26 36.6
perienced ooding events, although not everyone were directly Both (biomass & LPG) 19 26.8
affected (i.e. housing structures were not ooded). Water source Deep-well 10 14.1
Flood levels encountered varied, some respondents had their Water-delivery services 5 7.0
Commercial piped water 56 78.9
whole houses submerged in 2 m of ood water while others ex-
perienced less than 2 m. As a result of ooding events, families
have recalled being evacuated from the area more than once,
spending around three weeks at an evacuation center. As men- for 44.3% of the variance in PI.
tioned earlier, most of the residents were non-natives in the area, In terms of Place Attachment (PA), four variables are seen to
originating from various regions in the Philippines (Fig. 2). Com- have signicant effects: income, number of times evacuated, house
mon reasons for migration are due to marriage, family and the type and water source. An additional unit of income is associated
presence of relatives; presence of livelihood opportunities in or with a .99 increase in the odds (95% CI,  7.634  10  5 to
near Tadlac and lack of it in the place of origin; and forced re-  3.332  10  6) of the respondents having a higher level of PA,
location due to developmental projects or civil security concerns. Wald2(1)4.575, p .032, while an increase in number of times
evacuated is associated with a 1.93 (95%, CI,  0.210.017) increase
3.2. Sense of place (SOP) in a ood-prone community in the odds of higher PA, Wald2(1) 4.226, p .040. For the other
variables, the odds of single-story house dwellers to have a higher
A number of variables are signicantly associated with each level of PA is only 0.113 (95% CI,  3.620 to  0.734) times that of
Sense of Place (SOP) component. A signicant association exists two-story house dwellers, Wald2(1) 8.739, p .003. The PA odds
between Place Identity (PI) and years of stay in Tadlac and housing of residents who derive water from deep-wells and water delivery
structures. An additional year of residence in the community is services are 4.46 (95% CI, .0942.897) at Wald2(1) 4.375,
associated with a 1.06 increase in the odds (95% CI, .009 to .102) of p .036; and 16.56 (95% CI, .486 to 5.128) at Wald2(1) 5.620,
the respondents having a higher level of PI, at Wald2(1) 5.527, p .018, respectively, compared with those who have commer-
p .019. Meanwhile, the odds of respondents with a single-story cially piped water. PA associations were modeled at p .014, and
house to have a higher level of PI is only .15 (95% CI,  3.314 to the pseudo R2 (Nagelkerke) indicates that the model can account
.439) times that of two-story house owners, Wald2(1)6.544, for 42.1% of the variance in PA.
For Place Dependence (PD), only residents whose source of
wherein p .010. The PI associations were modeled at p .10, and
water come from privately controlled water delivery services is
the pseudo R2 (Nagelkerke) indicates that the model can account
15.91 (95% CI, .7214.814) more likely to have a higher PD com-
pared to the odds of residents having commercially piped water at
Table 2
Socio-demographic prole of surveyed residents in Tadlac (n 71). Wald2(1)7.023, p .008. PD associations were modeled at
p .123, and the pseudo R2 (Nagelkerke) indicates that the model
Variable description Mean SD Min Max can account for 33.7% of PD levels.
Correlations exist among the continuous variables (Table 4).
Age 40.83 14.01 18 78
Years of schooling 7.32 3.95 3 14 Signicant positive correlations (at .05 and.01) occur between
Income (pesos per month) 13,091.76 13,661.81 1000 90,000 age (Age) and years of schooling (Years_School); Age and the
Years of stay in Tadlac 27.34 16.57 1 69 number of years living in Tadlac (YearsTadlac); Years_School and
Estimated ood height recently experi- .72 0.61 0 2 income levels (Income); height of ood waters experienced
enced (meters)
Number of times evacuated 1.56 0.84 0 3
(FloodHeight) and number of times evacuated (EvacNumber);
Total number of days in evacuation 23.11 30.53 0 126 FloodHeight and days spent at an evacuation center (DaysEvac);
center and EvacNumber and DaysEvac.
Place Identity (PI)a,* 3.12 .51 2 4
Place Attachment (PA)* 3.14 .60 2 4 3.3. Additional contexts for sense of place in a ood-prone
Place Dependence (PD)a,* 3.13 .81 1 4
community
a
Negatively worded items were inversely coded.
*
Higher values correspond to higher levels of PI, PA and PD. Other factors not considered in the questionnaire which may
112 D.B. Anacio et al. / International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 15 (2016) 108115

Fig. 2. Places of origin (administrative regions) of Tadlac migrants (highlighted).

Table 4 also affect sense of place include certain activities and personal
Correlation matrix of continuous variables used (N 71). experiences of residents. The head of the Fisheries and Aquatic
Resources Management Council (FARMC) in Tadlac, a 52-year old
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
male resident since 1982, shared that people rely on the lake for
1. Age 1  .290 a
.001 .456b
.041  .133  .142 providing food, income, and other needs. For example, shing for
2. Years_School  .290a 1 .235a  .099 .013 .013  .181 food is easily performed, and can provide additional income when
3. Income .001 .235a 1 .101  .228  .038  .182 surplus catch is sold for cash. Usual yield is around ten kilograms
4. YearsTadlac .456b  .099 .101 1  .043  .043  .005
5. FloodHeight .041 .013  .228  .043 1 .269* .302a
daily of Tilapia species, and/or milksh (Chanos chanos). On the
6. EvacNumber  .133 .013  .038  .043 .269a 1 .344b other hand, income generating activities is not limited to shing,
7. DaysEvac  .142  .181  .182  .005 .302a .344b 1 because when water levels recede, crops can be grown. During the
a
dry season (around January to June), agriculture is practiced much
-Correlation is signicant at the .05 level (2-tailed).
b more than shing, wherein exposed lakeshore land is planted with
-Correlation is signicant at the .01 level (2-tailed).
assorted vegetables or corn. As water levels rise during the wet
season (around July to December), shing predominates daily
routine, since cropping land becomes ooded. In this sense, the
 D.B. Anacio et al. / International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 15 (2016) 108115
alternating nature of high and low water levels of the lake have
been capitalized upon by the residents to strengthen their place
dependence upon the community.
On the other hand, old time residents, ranging 4070 years old,
whose respective clans were among the original settlers in Tadlac
shared that the establishment of stilted houses or houses set at a
particular elevation deemed safe from rising ood waters, have
been considered early on as standard practice. Both stated that
during the relocation of families to Tadlac in the 1980s as part of
the national government's Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites
and Services (BLISS) Housing project, it was made clear that
houses should be built in specic areas or with stilts, in order to
avoid damages caused by anticipated increases of lake water le-
vels. However, the informants shared that as a result of land
scarcity, some incoming residents who came from various places
in the country (see Fig. 2) eventually built housing structures
nearer to the lakeshore. During ooding events, these residents,
which they term to be relatively new residents and have not ex-
perienced ooding conditions in the area before, are more affected
compared to established and experienced residents. It can be in-
ferred from this data that the strict implementation of zoning
ordinances not only manage the placement of housing structures,
but also the establishment of sound sense of place, which in the
long run, contribute to the minimization of future evacuation and
relocation costs.
The importance of housing structures (or house types in the
questionnaire) and the concept of home are interrelated, which
are further emphasized in the interviews. For example, a 52-year
old female transferred to Tadlac when she was 19 to start a family
of her own. In spite of experienced ooding events, she still prefers
to stay in Tadlac, as presented in her statement:
I was so afraid. I thought we were going to die. The un-
expected ood and the three months burden in the relocation
site were the most difcult times in our life. I thought we were
unable to survive. Notwithstanding the threats, we still opted
to stay because we love this place. This is the place that brings
food to our table How can I wish to be somewhere else?
Home is where the heart is.
Another respondent's sense of place was emphasized when she
showed family pictures that were recovered and framed in a photo
album after being drenched in ood waters. The pictures con-
tained special events and simple celebrations of past Christmas
and New Year holidays in Tadlac. At 40-years old, she adds that all
the special events that they have had as a family would be im-
possible to imagine if it happened any place else other than Tadlac.
The loss of properties during the ooding event was not much
emphasized, but rather, whether they will nd a place similar to
conditions in Tadlac is given focus:
here in Tadlac I can leave my house unlocked and even leave
valuables like this cellphone without any worry that it will be
gone. Is there any assurance that we can be as condent as this
if we move in a different place? Here, we are not anxious that
someone will stab us in the back. I've been here since birth.
Other respondents reiterate the same theme. A male in his
middle 40s, recounted that although options for relocation are con-
sidered, the sense of community that he felt, and their established
house, were enough reasons to weather future ooding events.
Despite the difculty experienced during the oods and the
certainty that we will be going through this difculty again,
most probably even worse in the years to come, we do not see
ourselves transferring to another place yet. Perhaps, when
better alternatives come. In the meantime, we are staying on
because our home and properties are here and there is a strong
113
sense of community here.
Another female informant wherein even after experiencing a
ooding event, stated that it is unthinkable to move out from
Tadlac since it is their home. If they will transfer to another place,
they will have to pay for rent, and start things all over again. This
holds true for another female respondent who shared her feelings
of despair when her house got damaged during a ooding event,
but nonetheless feels relaxed and happy, especially when there are
occasions in the community. Tadlac is the place where my chil-
dren grew and got married.
Long-time residents do not emphasize experienced ooding
events to greatly affect their sense of place and instead anchor it to
favorable conditions in the area as reasons for staying. A 62 year
old male says that despite being to places in my work as an
Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), and the attractions of other
beautiful places, I prefer to stay in my homeland. This is how I
feel we had gone through the ups and downs of life in this place
and I cannot imagine being anywhere else than in Tadlac. While
occurrences of ooding events were specically asked and how
such events could have affected his decision to transfer some-
where else, he instead emphasized various positive sense of place
aspects.
3.4. Integrating sense of place, ooding, and disaster management
It can be seen from the results that some of the socio-economic
variables had varying relationships with each place concept (Place
Identity, Place Attachment, and Place Dependence). Additionally,
readers should note a number of limitations in the data, for ex-
ample, some variables had low frequencies (as seen in Table 3),
which may account for a number of discrepancies, including the
model for Place Dependence (PD). Data collection constraints have
also targeted a relatively specic population and that the sample
size is small to generalize disaster-prone, lakeshore community
sense of place comparisons. However, it can be observed that a
common intersection among the sense of place concepts, includ-
ing the measured Place Identity (PI), Place Attachment (PA) and
PD, refer to housing and dwelling, and the needed services (sense
of community, belongingness, basic utilities, etc.) for maintaining a
sound sense of place on a household, as well as on a community-
wide level. This nding is further emphasized in the key informant
interviews, wherein sense of place taken as a whole, help reinforce
the maintenance of dwelling and its related functions, especially in
the context of a disaster-prone community.
For example, the advantage of residents having two-story
houses and of desires to improve the integrity of dwelling struc-
tures, present practical advantages. Two story structures not only
serve as mitigating measures for ooding events on a personal or
familial basis, but can be centralized as areas for evacuation for the
whole community, especially if the sense of place inherent in the
area correlate to high levels of belongingness, familiarity, and se-
curity. Houses, and the immediate community (Tadlac for ex-
ample) where such structures are built, contain emotional mean-
ings that when such structures are destroyed or damaged, efforts
requiring monetary and human capital are allotted to recreate or
repair such meaning-laden dwellings. This effort to preserve the
already established sense of place in the community not only al-
lows the residents to adapt to future ooding events, but also
serves as a rationale to reside in the disaster-prone area. Ad-
ditionally, since such structures are not merely physical entities
and gain a variety of place identity, attachment, and dependence
meanings; bundled services such as water, cooking, and electrical
utilities are lumped together with the housing infrastructure, and
effort is allotted to improve such services.
Respondents revealed that natural disasters have dramatically
114 D.B. Anacio et al. / International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 15 (2016) 108115
transformed the physical and social landscape, but it can also
compel them to reassert or alter their sense of place. Disasters can
act to close off a category of past experiences or bring to con-
sciousness deeply imbedded meanings that an individual has
formed with a particular setting. In the case of hurricane Katrina
which affected New Orleans, USA, Carpenter's research found that
a resident's place attachment, identity, and dependence were
prime factors that motivated inhabitants to return after the storm
[31]. Chamlee-Wright and Storr also showed the role sense of
place plays in determining who returns, and who do not; and in
turn suggests that sense of place plays a role in post-disaster
community rebound [32]. As shown in gathered data, household
mementos (such as photo albums) re-establish sense of place after
disasters, and are thus considered important artefacts in main-
taining sense of place; although this paper has not determined as
to what level of harm is required to signicantly alter a resident's
sense of place.
In the case of Tadlac, ooding events and its associated im-
plications such as relocation to evacuation centers and loss of
property, cause disruptions to a resident's sense of place, albeit not
enough to permanently migrate elsewhere. Respondents have re-
counted that ooding events were not really favorable or amen-
able, but still, their eventual choice was to remain in the area. This
choice may further be attributed to place dependence (or as
measured using the PD scale), wherein a resident's length of stay
facilitates an individual's establishment of an economic endeavor
specic for that place. For example, an individual may not be born
in Tadlac, but due to his or her length of stay in the area, has de-
veloped necessary networks and skills to practice a certain eco-
nomically-rewarding activity, and eventually, establishing a decent
dwelling structure. As a result, Tadlac gains meaning as a place
where one can depend upon economically, and thus, relocating to
another place to evade ooding events would also mean foregoing
established economic activities and housing structures. Moreover,
the unique landscape of Tadlac for practicing shing and agri-
culture as sources of food and livelihood are favorable to residents,
despite of ooding occurrences. This process of forming place
dependence may as well form place attachments and place iden-
tities, since these three aspects are correlated with one another.
In the case of native-born Tadlac residents, Venables et al.
suggest that high sense of place levels may also be related to low
levels of perceived risks, since individuals who strongly identify
with a place may avoid acknowledging potential risks [9]. Sense of
place could provide a sort of psychological buffer to risks inherent
in the area. In another perspective, personal and historical ex-
periences of old time residents may have led them to anticipate
such ooding conditions, which allows them to strategically locate
their properties in less ood-prone areas (relative to other ood-
prone areas in Tadlac) and or allot efforts to ood-proof their
houses. As a result, ooding experiences are less damaging, less
likely perceived as a catastrophic event, and viewed instead as a
given risk that can be experienced on a regular basis. It is thus
recommended that policy-instruments pertaining to land-use
zones are crucial in helping establish proper land use areas, as well
as for establishing a sound sense of place for new and incoming
residents.
While no relationships between age and any of the place do-
mains measured were observed in Tadlac, literature suggests that
younger individuals think about places differently than their older
counterparts. Individuals below the age of 30 may be more likely
to think in terms of informal social groups or immediate home
settings, while older individuals might emphasize geographical
places or the broader local environment and community [33,34]. A
related variable however, the length of stay in Tadlac is sig-
nicantly associated with PI levels. This may be attributed to a
greater probability of a resident to explore and interact with his/
her environment as a result of prolonged residency in an area.
Again, the role of a dwelling structure is emphasized and inter-
related since one's house or dwelling structure serves as a base or
point of interest for interacting with other members of the
community.
4. Conclusions
While identifying sense of place dimensions may be used for
specifying needed interventions for environmental management,
especially for disaster risk reduction and management, the results
highlight the multidimensional construct of sense of place, com-
prising cognitive, affective and behavioral components. As such, a
measurement of sense of place would depend on the purpose and
scope of the research, whether or not to include various sense of
place constructs. For this paper, sense of place as a function of the
PI, PD, and PA scales, as well as in the interviews, made evident a
resident's various reasons for their stay in Tadlac in spite of ex-
periencing ooding events. Tadlac, for the residents, is not simply
a physical place where they inhabit, but also a specic area where
a sense of ownership is attributed. The symbolic nature of home as
a private space to which people have become attached, and shared
with loved ones, contains a strongly imbedded positive and fa-
vorable sense of place. This sense of place as a function of dwelling
structures transcends the material characteristics of a physical
structure, identifying a house not just as a purposeful living en-
vironment but also intertwined with various community-related
identities. As such, while there is an acknowledged risk for
ooding events, residents have taken full advantage of a condition
wherein a housing structure is located at the nexus of a disaster-
prone area and a positive sense of place.
Contexts for sense of place can be capitalized upon to facilitate
the establishment of better structures and systems for disaster
management. Rebuilding better and preparing better for future
disasters may be implemented if sense of place in a given com-
munity is considered. Sense of place can also be considered for
policy frameworks, or market-based approaches of government
interventions to prevent further construction of houses near the
disaster-prone areas, or rules should be set so that houses should
only be built on a particular elevation to avoid damages from ood
waters, etc. and establish a proper sense of place. Strict im-
plementation of housing related regulations, together with parti-
cipatory involvement of zoning plans, are seen as a crucial steps to
build and establish appropriate sense of place, and suitable atti-
tudes and behaviors in a disaster-prone area. On the other hand,
planning for future communities should account not only sense of
place concepts, but also critical biophysical and other socio-en-
vironmental variables, thereby ensuring the sustainability and
resiliency of human settlements during times of disasters.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge helpful contributions
from anonymous reviewers who gave critical analyses of earlier
drafts of this paper.
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