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Lessons from ‘Yolanda’
THERE are more lessons to be learned from super typhoon “Yolanda” that hit the Visayas exactly three years ago today – Nov. 8, 2013. The rehabilitation process has been slow.
While “Yolanda” brought massive devastation, it was not the first time we were responding and rehabilitating disaster-hit areas. 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. It certainly is hard to explain to disaster victims why the government is so slow to act while they continue to suffer from the destruction.
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. “Yolanda” was just an example. We should expect more of it, but more important is to be prepared for these extreme weather events. We will never be disaster-resilient unless we learn the lessons of past disasters.
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