THE RECENT tropical storm “Lannie”, its heavy rains and the resulting flashfloods made us stop and think. We have seen enough tragedies. Nobody can say we have not been warned.
Local governments must confront the worsening floods. To do this, they must update their data on flood hazards and vulnerabilities, develop their information base on flood losses, invest in flood protection and mitigation, identify safe land for families to live in, and implement the solid waste management law at full speed.
There is a need to shift from reactive efforts to proactive strategies in strengthening our defenses against disasters and climate change. Calamities will happen whether we like it or not, but we can certainly reduce its impacts if we are better prepared.
Both the national government and local governments must think long-term and do more for improved urban planning and disaster reduction. For one, let us look at the enforcement of building standards. Disaster resilience requires good building standards and effective enforcement. A land use policy needs to be adopted to improve resiliency of infrastructure and communities. This Congress needs to prioritize these measures.
The climate change impacts alone have resulted in disasters of unprecedented proportions, causing multiple losses — economic, social, political and even cultural. While the distribution of goods and rehabilitation efforts are vital elements of calamity relief efforts, one cannot diminish the fact that preventing the loss of lives and properties is far more important and strategic. We can no longer dismiss the interconnection among the issues of climate change, disasters and poverty. We cannot just build houses for the poor. We need to make sure they are built in areas that will keep our people away from harm. We cannot just build bridges and roads. We need to build strong and resilient infrastructure in the right place and for the right reasons. And yes, the quality of scientific data available to government agencies and LGUs for predicting and forecasting disasters also requires urgent improvement.
