JULY is National Disaster Resilience Month. Since democracy was restored in the country in 1986, the Philippines has seen the mushrooming of political parties and its politicians’ seasonal shifting of alliances. How many disasters have struck us since?
According to the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations (UN), just allotting huge sums of money for disaster mitigation and prevention is not enough. There is more to disaster risk reduction and management. Solutions go as deep as fixing the country’s political institutions. With a new administration, there is no better way to start than now.
As one of the first steps to disaster prevention, countries prone to disasters like the Philippines should fix their institutions, and strengthen their political systems in particular, according to the WB and UN in the landmark report “Natural Hazards, Unnatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention”.
The report reminds world governments not to pay mere lip service to democracy. Good governance would lead to better management of resources, and therefore, if we have a strong political system that is accountable to the people, then we can have more transparency and accountability in the disbursement of resources for disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation.
Aside from political systems, the report emphasizes the importance of institutions such as the media, engineering groups, and neighborhood associations, which will expose the public to divergent views.
The report proposes other measures that include making information about hazards and risks, such as maps of flood plains and seismic fault lines, easily available; allowing property values to reflect hazard risks; and providing adequate infrastructure and other public services.
It is the poor who bear much of the brunt of hazards and disasters. The government should not pay mere lip service to them.
