“All these point to lack of preparation.”
Once again, our civil defense authorities came up short of expectations in their response to the devastation caused by super typhoon Odette. Thirteen days after the destruction, many victims are still waiting for help.
Typhoon Odette was the second super typhoon to devastate the country in less than ten years. The first was “Yolanda” in 2013.
Mercifully, Odette killed a lot less but this is no consolation at all given the extent of property, agricultural and infrastructure damage. The affected area is also very much wider.
Although the estimated property damage is not yet complete, the initial estimates coming in are already running in the tens of billions of pesos. This means that reconstruction will be more costly and longer.
It used to be that typhoons of this magnitude are few and far between, but because of climate change, they are becoming more frequent and more destructive. It is therefore safe to say that we will be seeing more Odettes and Yolandas in the not-too-distant future.
Typhoons in the past would normally pass a given area once but in the case of Odette, it did not only linger but also returned to the areas that were already destroyed, causing a lot more misery.
We would have thought that our government has already polished its responses to this kind of emergency situation efficiently and effectively but as we have seen in the past several days, this is not the case. There are many reasons given by the government for the late response.
One is the late assessment report by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council of the extent of damage. It took five days before a state of calamity can be declared, authorizing the release of funds. This may be true but it could not totally absolve the government for not responding immediately. After all, it was an emergency situation.
We seem to have learned nothing from all our previous experiences in responding to frequent natural calamities.
Another reason given is because of depleted funds or where to source the funding to support relief operations. All these point to lack of preparation.
There may also be other reasons that the government is not saying. One is the pandemic where the focus of government is currently concentrated. It could also be because everyone was already in a celebratory mode because of Christmas. Still another reason could be because of the magnitude of the destruction that caused relevant government agencies to lose their bearing as to where and how to start the rescue and relief operations.
What makes me wonder is why the government keeps on pointing to lack of funds as a reason for the poor response. This is an old refrain that we often hear from the government. By all indications however, the real reason is simply unpreparedness and President Duterte realizes this because he is calling for reforms. He wants an amendment to the calamity law but it should not only be limited to that. We must also look at how our civil defense agencies are performing in order to reform their weaknesses.
This is one time when there should be a congressional investigation to find out the reasons for the inadequate response and pass the necessary laws to improve the system. For one, a Council may not be the best way to respond to emergency situations. A line agency may be better like a National Emergency Management Agency instead of a Council type system. This is because, time and again, the NDRRMC has not been up to par in the performance of its duties. It has built in limitations like having to rely on other agencies for inputs before acting. This may be the reason why the local government units in all the affected areas were initially left to fend for themselves.
Government help is now rapidly improving but more needs to be done by way by getting help to the most remote areas that were affected. Based on my experiences in dealing with extreme natural calamities, having an efficient and functioning standard operating procedure is of great help. We do not have to have a 50-year emergency response plan as suggested by Senator Manny Pacquiao. All that is needed are SOPs that the government can use for every emergency situation. One each for Typhoons, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, heavy flooding and others. These SOPs must be continuously updated, rehearsed and subjected to table exercises. This way, civil defense agencies can immediately respond when the situation demands.
Practice as they say makes perfect. A similar old adage also tells us that “the more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war.” In this case, that war refers to natural disasters.
A better New Year to one and all.