Disaster mitigation

Those who complained that the government did not act fast enough to the floods due to Ondoy are either being captious or deliberately unfair.

It’s odious to make comparisons but by most of the standards of disaster management, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) performed creditably.

But despite this, over 246 lives were lost and scores injured, not to speak of the mental trauma that thousand endured.

Ondoy revealed the inadequacy of the law that established the NDCC. Its primary mission are rescue, succor and relief. They pertain to action taken during or after a natural calamity.

Disaster prevention or mitigation is not a mandate of the NDCC. Under the law, the NDCC chair must first declare the existence of a state of calamity. The declaration then allows, first of all, the local governments to move—use previously allocated calamity funds and mobilize personnel and resources. If government officials act, especially use funds and resources, prior to the declaration of a state of calamity they would be acting illegally and can be charged with misuse of funds and resources.

Only when the actions of the LGUs, which make up the first line of defense or attack, so to speak, are insufficient can the NDCC marshal the Cabinet departments and other government agencies to join in the rescue and relief work.

There’s a bill awaiting approval in Congress that will set up an agency whose remit will be to look after both disaster mitigation and management. The enactment of this bill is imperative.

Eighty percent of all geohazards in the archipelago have been mapped and yet people living on or near these faults have not been relocated.

Riverbanks, waterways, foreshores that are susceptible to flashfloods, storm surges and tsunamis continue to be built up for habitation and business.

The number of active volcanoes is known and yet the slope of these slumbering giants continue to be farmed and grazed.

Our disaster warning systems are adequate (though they also need to be augmented) but people do not take their alerts seriously. Many lives could be saved if local governments would carry out preemptive evacuation.

Our stockpiles of essential goods for disaster relief are not maintained at optimum levels. Furthermore, most of the commodities need to be cooked. Can’t we store ready-to-eat meals in the warehouses of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Philippine National Red Cross?

Heavy equipment like 6×6 trucks, helicopters, inflatable hydraulic lifts, bulldozers, backhoes, to mention only the most essential, are critical for responding to marine disasters, earthquakes, typhoons and floods.

But they have to be pre-positional to be of maximum utility.

These are only a few of the many things that a disaster management and mitigation agency need to prepare for.

Crucial to all this is the proper but flexible allocation of responsibilities and resources to local governments, the Red Cross and NGOs that have taken on themselves the tasks of relief and rehabilitation.

To reduce capital costs, the principal departments concerned with transportation, infrastructure and logistics should make disaster preparedness a part of their planning and procurement decisions.

As Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, the head of the NDCC, has said the bill pending in Congress must become law at once to make the government better prepared to handle future natural calamities.

We think that Secretary Teodoro did an excellent job coordinating the rescue and relief efforts.

If an emergency is the true test of leadership, Secretary Teodoro passed it with grace and humility. –Manila Times