Preventive resettlement of communities from extremely hazard prone areas would result in large quantitative gains in global
disaster resilience, reduce annual global recovery spending, and prevent disaster events from impacting on hard won
development gains. Prevention as opposed to recovery has become the norm in describing a smart approach to disaster
management yet preventive resettlement, requiring action before a significant event, is rarely considered as part of national
disaster management strategies. This article describes why it is underutilised and how it could be employed more systematically
to reduce risk in the most hazard prone areas in countries such as the Philippines. The Paper describes how the poor global track
record of development induced displacement and resettlement (DIDR) has inadvertently impacted on perceptions of resettlement
in general and considers how preventive resettlement fits within current theoretical models, proposing a distinct model for
preventive resettlement.