The history of Philippine disasters and calamities dates all the way back 1610 with the records to be found in the Manila Observatory. There can be found narratives of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, floods and other natural disasters.
Inspite of such existing records, Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) policies continued to lag behind what was basically necessary and failed to adapt to the dynamics of global climate change. Prior to Yolanda, there was Yoling in 1971 and before Ondoy there was the 40 days of continuous rains in 1970.
Television footage of the 1970 flood in Central Luzon showed a helicopter with the First Lady Imelda Marcos aboard throwing plastic bags of bread on the citizens stranded on the roofs of their houses and other buildings.
For decades, scenes of evacuees inside schools and covered basketball courts were the only known response to disaster after disaster.
Rescue operations were haphazard at best wherein the only organized attempts were made by members of the AFP. Another TV news footage showed then Pampanga Governor Lito Lapid asking that a rope be tied around his waist while attempting to traverse a raging flood of lahar to reach a stranded family in the middle of the river.
Cities and municipalities depended on political leaders to lead rescue operations and relief campaigns with unequal resources and spotty reporting of casualties and damages.
The Philippine DRRM system was a picture of organized chaos and the same can be expected annually since the thought was that since it was natural disasters then none can be done about it. And yet, annually, the death toll and economic losses continued to mount.
Although there was the National Disaster Coordinating Council established several decades later, its orientation was always based on reaction after a disaster. Mostly, it consisted of sending relief goods for a limited period of time.
There was no preparation, risk reduction, rehabilitation and management.
After TS Ondoy in September 2009, the RA 10120 was enacted. It aimed to give comprehensive policies with regards to DRRM but most importantly, it went down to the barangay level. Taking into account the 2004 Asian Tsunami experience and Ondoy’s lessons, RA 10121 attempted to be as comprehensive as it can be. Of course, organizing on paper is very different from organizing on the ground. It took years for RA 10121 to gain its roots by numerous seminars, trainings, equipment acquisitions an drills.
It was put to a test in 2013 during Yolanda. It failed.
What was evident was that the information dissemination was not cascaded down to the grassroots level where it was sorely needed. DRRM is a shared responsibility by government, private and the communities. They are all stakeholders with regards to DRRM.
The lesson was painful and more efforts were made to rectify the errors and shortcomings.
In 2016, it was the year of El Nino. Erratic weather was expected. Planning continued and preparations were made way before the rainy season.
2 strong typhoons were experienced one after the other. Karen and Lawin were strong typhoons almost equivalent to Yolanda. The difference was that the lessons were learned and adjustments were made. Pre-emptive evacuation and the cooperation of the citizenry made the casualty count much lower than what was experienced before.
Finally, we have learned.
RESCUE.COM.PH conveys it best wishes to all this coming 2017!
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