THE THREAT posed by typhoon “Ompong” reminds us of the lessons from super typhoon “Yolanda.”
The rehabilitation process has been agonizingly slow. A concrete example is the housing project for “Yolanda” survivors in Batad, Iloilo. The groundbreaking for 608 houses was held just this Sept. 8, 2018 almost five years after the disaster. This unwarranted delay is a disaster in itself. It certainly is hard to explain to disaster victims why they continue to suffer from the destruction caused by a typhoon that happened five years ago.
While “Yolanda” brought massive devastation, it was not the first time we were responding and rehabilitating disaster-hit areas. Thus by now the government should already have a system to ensure that rehabilitation and recovery programs are immediately carried out. Every single day that survivors remain in temporary shelters or deprived of support to get back to their own feet adds to their suffering.
The lessons of “Yolanda” should continuously remind everyone about the importance of disaster preparedness and risk reduction. We notice the improvements, especially in the issuance of advisories and early warnings. There are local governments that are able to enforce early evacuation. But we need to do more. The prepositioning of goods should be more efficient. We need to conduct massive education and information campaign on disaster preparedness so that communities do not remain complacent.
We need to ensure that in rebuilding communities, we are not rebuilding the risks again. We must reduce the risks and not create new risks. If a community is prone to landslides, consult the geohazard map to see where relocation is possible; otherwise, we will continue to incur damages and rebuild again when typhoons occur. That is certainly not a mark of resilience. In coastal communities, there should be mangrove reforestation because mangroves sequester carbon and are good buffers for storm surge and tsunami.
We need to adapt because stronger typhoons and other natural hazards are the new normal and “Ompong” affirms this. “Yolanda” five years ago was just an example.
We should expect more severe weather aberrations, but more important is to be prepared for these extreme events. We will never be disaster resilient unless we learn the lessons of past disasters.
