Disaster Preparedness: Everyone’s Concern

The super typhoon that destroyed hundreds of houses in Tacloban City and in other places in the Visayas last November 8, 2013 claiming the lives of thousands of people could serve as a lesson for all government officials and the public to be always prepared and alert.

Before the Super Typhoon Yolanda hit the Visayas, the weathermen from the Mactan-based Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) had already warned the public that the approaching typhoon is very dangerous because of its wind power of over 200 kilometers per hour.

A few days before Yolanda hit Visayas, Chief Weather Forecaster Oscar Tabada already advised the public, through the various media outlets that those people living in the shorelines facing the Pacific Ocean should prepare and transfer to safer places while the typhoon is still far.

After Mayor Michael Rama learned that Cebu City will be also affected by the super typhoon, he immediately gathered the department heads of City Hall and discussed with them possible outcome of the typhoon and reminded them of their respective tasks.

The personnel of the Local Disaster Risk-Reduction Management Office (LDRRMO) quickly installed weather monitoring gadgets and communication equipment that include Ultra High Frequency (UHF) at the mayor’s conference room that was temporarily converted as the city’s disaster command post.

The city had purchase batteries for vehicles to operate the UHF base radio equipment that can be used once there will be communication failures of cellphones.

Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III also convened the Provincial Disaster Risk-Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) to coordinate and monitor the preparedness in the municipal levels because of the forecast that the northern part of the province will be among the places to be badly hit by the typhoon.

Cebu City, even during the stint of then mayor Tomas R. Osmeña in 2009, has been recognized already as one of the local government units in the country with Best in Disaster Preparedness by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center, a private research university and graduate school of business and public affairs.

The city that time has been commended for its disaster preparedness plan and keeping up of documents on tracking of informal settlers, particularly those living in danger zones like in riverbanks.

Mayor Rama had also alerted the Cebu Contractors Association (CCA) for them to prepare their heavy equipment so that these can be used immediately to augment the city-owned equipment once these will be needed to respond landslides in the mountains.

But Typhoon Yolanda had spared Cebu City of damages because the strong winds only destroyed century old trees and other farm crops without any typhoon-related casualties reported, unlike in Tacloban City where thousands of people died because of storm surge.

The strong winds from the Pacific Ocean triggered a surge or an offshore rise of water. The destructive power of the storm surge and large battering waves destroyed hundreds of houses situated in the shoreline residential area in Tacloban City.

“Maayo gayud nga andam na ta daan. Kanus-a man kita molihok, unya na ba kon maigo na ta sa bagyo?” the mayor told the City Hall officials. He also asked Tabada of Pagasa to be present in some of their meetings to always give them weather updates.

Even Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza sees the importance to always have trainings from the top officials down to the barangay level for them to be reminded of how they will respond to disasters in their respective areas.

The lady mayor also advised the public not to be panicked whenever critical situations arrives because it may result to more harm. She instructed the personnel of the city’s Disaster Risk-Reduction Management Office to conduct disaster preparedness trainings.

But Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, the mayor’s trusted man tasked to supervise the city’s disaster preparedness, said the public should also cooperate to the government officials by complying with all instructions for their own safety rather than to just ignore the warnings.

While it is very remote for Cebu City to be hit by a storm surge like what happened in Tacloban City, but Tumulak said disaster may also occur here if the thousands of families living beside the creeks and rivers will continue to ignore the city’s demand for these families to abandon their dangerous places.

“Wala g’yuy komo sa pagpangandam ug dunganan ‘sab sa pag-ampo kon adunay katalagman nga magsingabut,” the mayor was smiling after the city only suffered less damage after the typhoon. When the typhoon already landed in Guian, Samar in Eastern Visayas, Rama led his department heads to hold a rosary.

Tumulak said before the typhoon hit Cebu the other week the city’s heavy equipment and its drivers or operators were already deployed in strategic locations of the city so they can immediately respond to the needs.

“Gibutang nato sila daan sa dapit nga walay peligro sa landslide og aron kon dunay dinaliang panginahanglan magamit kini dayon,” said Tumulak, a former radio broadcaster who founded the Basak-Pardo Emergency Response (BPER) during his stint as barangay captain.

During calamities and other types of disasters, the government can spend its Calamity Budget without complying with the strict state audit procedures.

Every government unit is mandated to allocate at least five percent of the total amount of its annual budget for Calamity Fund and the law provides that 70 percent of the fund shall be spent for preparedness while the remaining 30 percent for disaster response.

Under Republic Act 10121 or the Philippine Disaster-Risk Reduction and Management Act the calamity fund shall be also used to purchase life-saving rescue equipment, supplies and medicines, and post-disaster activities.

Because Cebu City did not experience severe damage of Typhoon Yolanda, Mayor Rama and the City Council have agreed to help those local government units that were heavily affected by the typhoon like Ormoc City and the municipalities in northern Cebu province by giving them financial assistance and other relief goods.

The law provides that the government shall provide maximum care, assistance and services to individuals and families affected by disaster, implement emergency rehabilitation projects to lessen the impact of disaster, and facilitate resumption of normal social and economic activities.

But each of us does not want to be caught unprepared that is why Councilor Tumulak said the people should be always prepared, not only the government officials, in case a disaster is approaching to a place.

Aside from having enough stocks of food and water, Mayor Rama has reminded the public to also have first aid kits like drugs and medicines that can be used immediately in case of urgent needs.

The mayor said battery-powered portable radio sets are very useful to monitor developments of disaster, particularly typhoon, to monitor typhoon updates and government instructions once the modern electronics gadgets like tablets and other kinds of smartphones bogged down due to power failure.

Rama said the public should keep LED flashlights in their homes, which is much smaller in sizes compared to flashlights with the filament bulb because it will last long since it is economical in terms of power consumption.

Some of the volunteers of the city’s disaster office also gave tips to the public by saying that they should have a prepared “escape plans” in case they could no longer get out through their main entrance. It can be done by having a ladder rope.

The public were also advised that they should see to it that their houses are safe by trimming the trees surrounding in their homes when typhoon is coming to reduce the danger that it will be uprooted due to strong winds.

But since it is not easy to secure government documents, the public are also advised to place their important documents like land titles and other government-issued ID’s in a ready-to-grab bag and preferably waterproof bags, so that it can be easy to carry in case of emergency, that include fires.

It is also important that the head of the family will discuss to her members that in case of emergency – where to meet each other or where to go should if they lose each other during emergency situation and they could not be contacted with the cellphones.

Rescue experts also advised the public that even in work places we should always take note of the building’s emergency exits and the locations of fire extinguishers and to discuss it with other fellow workers.

But aside from typhoon, fires and floodings, the people in Bohol and Cebu were also afraid after more than 200 persons died when a 7.2 magnitude earthquake destroyed several houses and buildings last October 15.

Only last Wednesday, Maria Elena Lupo of the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB) and Robinson Jorgio of the Philippine Institute of Volcanolgy and Seismology (Phivocs) appeared before the Cebu City Council and both of them announced that there is an existing fault lines somewhere in the city’s hinterland barangays, one of which is situated near the water dam in Barangay Buhisan.

Tumulak advised the concerned government officials to be specific in their report, not by just saying that the faultline is located in a particular barangay because he said it cause fear among the residents.

“Dili unta nila i-generalize and pag-ingon nga entire barangay hazardous puy-an. Kinahanglang ilang itudlo ang tukma nga dapit kon asa g’yud ang mao nga faultlines,” Tumulak said.

Mayor Rama said he want to organize some 100,000 city residents to compose a Cebu City Volunteer Movement (CCVM) to assist the city in times of disaster, like fires and also maintenance of traffic.