JULY is National Disaster Resilience Month. This year’s theme is “BIDAng Pilipino: Building a Stronger Filipino Well-Being towards Disaster Resilience.”
Resilience is said to be one of the remarkable strengths of Filipinos, but what is our understanding of it? Is it limited to our ability to cope amid a devastating tragedy? Is it relevant only to the way we rebuild our communities after each disaster?
We have laws to build resilience, such as the Climate Change Law of 2009, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, and the People’s Survival Fund Law of 2012, among others. But these policies are mere ink on paper unless we turn them into actual programs and actions that will effectively reduce disaster risks.
The task before national and local leaders is straightforward: We have to make our communities safer, more resilient, and even more ready. The task of “building better” starts not after each disaster, but long before calamities strike.
Our country is prone to natural disasters. And because disasters are becoming more formidable, a shift from reactive to proactive stance in dealing with natural hazards is a must. Let us rethink our current frameworks and strategies for socio-economic development. Poverty, environmental degradation, rapid urbanization, and climate change have all conspired to create enormous risks in our communities. They have constantly challenged our capacity to cope.
Sea level rise threatens to submerge our coastal towns. Are these communities aware of the threats of sea level rise and their exposure to tsunami and storm surge? Do they have natural buffers and disaster risk reduction measures in place? Meanwhile, communities in flood-prone and landslide-prone areas, near volcanoes and other active fault lines, must also be aware of the risks.
Closest to the people, local government leaders have the privilege to translate national policies, plans and programs into concrete and visible actions. Committing to make cities and municipalities disaster-resilient means increasing our investments in disaster risk reduction; conducting and sharing risk assessments; establishing multi-hazard early warning system; building roadside ditches and seawalls; and undertaking regular drills for disaster preparedness, among others.
We must build homes, schools, and hospitals that are safe and secure amidst natural hazards. We must design and construct roads, bridges and other infrastructure that helps spur economic growth with disaster risk reduction in mind.
