OpinionsEcon 101Restart disaster preparedness

Restart disaster preparedness

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Have you been watching TV news about Hurricane Dorian as a “catastrophic” Category 5 hurricane?

It made its first landfall late Sunday, Sept.1st on Elbow Cay in the Abaco Islands in the Bahas, then it crawled slowly but destructively across the northern Bahamas, and made another landfall on the east end of the Grand Bahama island. The U.S. Hurricane Center said that Dorian is now the strongest hurricane in modern records to have hit the northwestern Bahamas, and it is the second-strongest on record, as far as wind speed goes in the Atlantic.

Did the images remind you of the 2013 Yolanda disaster?

It is important to note that the Philippines is the third among 173 countries most vulnerable to disaster risks and natural hazards; experiencing an average of 20 tropical cyclones each year and other climatic and extreme weather aberrations such as the El Niño phenomenon, based on the World Risk Index 2012.

These disasters strain government funds, with an average of P15 billion in annual direct damages, thus, the government’s poverty-reduction efforts are hampered, saddled with huge expenditures, disaster relief food, medicines, housing, etc.

At present, the local governments are tasked with putting in place measures to ensure effective implementation of risk- reduction, adaptation, coordination and meeting financial requirements.

At the core of these interventions is the reality of Climate Change. The national government has instituted programs to mitigate the effects of climate change, reverse environmental degradation, and improve the resiliency of local communities.

To systematically integrate the various disaster risk- management and climate change interventions, the government established the National Climate Change Action Plan, and the National Disaster Risk-Reduction and -Management Plan.

Since its launch in July 2012, the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH) project has been in the process of installing over 500 pieces of weather equipment composed of automated weather stations, automated rain gauges, and combinations of AWS-ARGs along the 18 major river basins in the country by end of July 2013.

The equipment complements units — such as Doppler radars, surveillance cameras, tsunami detectors, and alerting siren — continuously being installed in various locations to ensure effective location-specific forecasts.

Now, are our local governments making sure that relief and rehabilitation remain sustainable? Were those affected by previous typhoons effectively assisted by the government through the repair of vital infrastructure like health facilities, classrooms and schools, roads and bridges; livelihood assistance (especially for those in the agriculture and fisheries sectors); and permanent housing programs?

Heaven forbid, are we ready for the next typhoon? Are we laging handa?

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Author’s email: [email protected]

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