Calamities teach lessons on being always prepared
The Philippines in the past days again experienced nature’s wrath after typhoon “Lando” lashed many parts of Luzon, bringing towns underwater.
The country experiences an average of 20 typhoons a very year, aside from other man-made and natural calamities, making people learn and to cope and become resilient.
The Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Law defines resiliency as the ability to resist, absorb, accommodate and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions.
A single disaster starts a domino effect of other calamities such as flooding, landslide, mudslide, health calamity and others. We also have earthquakes, volcanic eruption, mining disasters, fire, massacre and even transportation disasters.
Preparedness Knowing that calamities and disasters are part of the landscape makes us endeavor to protect ourselves. The many calamities experienced in the past have become the basis for programs and practices.
The German Watch’ Global Climate Change Index for 2015 said that the Philippines is the most vulnerable out of 160 countries. This is based on the many major calamities which have hit the country, that strains government funds, with an average of 15 billion in annual direct damages. More adversely, this hampers the government’s poverty reduction efforts.
From typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” in 2009 that killed 747 in the metropolis and destroyed 27.297 billion worth of infrastructure, we learned that there is a need for the government to invest in modern weather forecasting technologies. That should include increasing the salaries and benefits of weather forecasters.
The government has likewise crafted the 5-billion Master Plan for Flood Management for long-term flood management projects in Metro Manila, Rizal, Laguna, and parts of Bulacan. This will be implemented in 2035 but with an immediate effect expected in 15 to 18 months.
The 1990 intensity 7.7 earthquake that rocked Northern Luzon, including Baguio City, left 1,621 people dead and flattened structures, taught us the importance of having an institutionalized system in building infrastructures. We learned that it is important to investing on the foundation by reinforcing with steel that can withstand a jolt of higher intensity, doing soil testing and incorporating engineering interventions in the mixture of concrete.
The beautiful Mt. Mayon very often grumbles and spews its lava. The Bicolanos have become resilient knowing that they have volcanic eruption, landslide and mudslide, lahar flow, typhoon and possible storm surge. Governor Joey Salceda said the people have become prepared for any form of disaster as the subject has been incorporated in the lessons of students.
Super typhoon “Yolanda” was an unimaginable disaster. Nobody was prepared for the typhoon which came with storm surges – a new word introduced in the disaster dictionary. About 8,000 people perished in this disaster and hundreds more missing. The experience taught Filipinos to never to take a typhoon warning for granted.
Alfredo Majar Lagmay, executive director of Project Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH) said the government invested a lot of money not for assistance but for prevention. The government created a system for a lead-time warning against possible floods and landslides. NOAH is an interactive website which can be used by the public.
Historic events Government records show calamities that hit the country. Among them are the tsunami in Southern Mindanao in 1976 where 8,000 people died; typhoon “Thelma” in 1991 in Ormoc that killed 5,000 people; the Baguio earthquake in 1990 that killed 1,621; Taal volcano eruption in 1911 where 1,300 died; typhoon Pablo in Mindanao in 2012 that killed 1,900; Mayon volcano eruption in 1814 that buried Cagsawa church and killed 1,200; the massive landslide in Guinsaugon, Leyte in 2006 that killed 1,126; typhoon “Sendong” in 2011 that killed 1,080; and the flooding and landslide unleashed by typhoon Trix in Bicol in 1952 killed 995 people; typhoon “Ondoy” that brought under water a large portion of Metro Manila; and the most recent major calamity – typhoon “Yolanda” in Leyte.