Zubiri pushes disaster dept, Natl Hazard map updating

SENATE Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri, citing the string of earthquakes that shook Mindanao last month resulting in 22 fatalities, pressed Congress on Monday to front-load passage of the bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience and a companion bill updating the National Hazard map.

“We cannot stop these natural calamities, but we can prepare for them, and with disaster preparedness and resiliency, we can minimize losses in terms of human lives and properties. Let us not wait for the next one to hit before we take action,” Zubiri stressed.

Zubiri had earlier filed Senate Bill 527, to be known as the National Hazard Mapping Act, and Senate Bill 1139, to be known as the Department of Disaster Resilience Act.

The Senate Majority Leader took the floor last week to appeal to lawmakers to pass both measures. In response to the earthquakes, his office held relief operations in the Municipality of Makilala, the City of Kidapawan, and the Provincial Capitol of Cotabato last November 2019.

Beyond immediate aid, the senator stressed the need for remedial legislation in a bid to ensure better disaster management and response strategies of the national government. “The creation of a Department of Disaster Resilience will ensure a more efficient, coordinated, and complete system of disaster management—from risk assessment to emergency response right down to reintegration assistance and rehabilitation,” Zubiri said.

The Senate Majority Leader explained that the proposed department will take on the powers and functions of the Office of Civil Defense, the Climate Change Office of the Climate Change Commission, the Geo-Hazard Assessment and Engineering Geology Section of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, the Health Emergency Management Bureau of the Department of Health, the Disaster Response and Assistance and Management Bureau of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Bureau of Fire Protection, and the Program Management Office for Earthquake Resiliency of the Greater Metro Manila Area.

Zubiri added that once enacted into law, the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience will be elevated to “Cabinet level.”

hazard mapping

TO complement the goals of the Department of Disaster Resilience Act, Zubiri stressed the need for a companion bill embodying the proposed National Hazard Mapping Act. “Having a national hazard map will allow us to identify areas of high risk, helping us pinpoint possibilities of occurrence, magnitude and location of potential earthquakes, volcanic activity and other natural hazards,” Zubiri explained, adding that the map is also expected to guide in the “construction of public school buildings, hospitals, evacuation centers and other government institutions in safe zones.” Butch Fernandez