Preparation is half the battle won

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EDITORIAL

WHILE disaster prevention should be the greater focus of our efforts, response preparedness is likewise important to prevent further casualties. Contingency plans are crucial in times of disasters. Communities must draw and test regularly their response plan way ahead of any disaster event and improve constantly on early warning systems and emergency management capacities.
Local government units must have the political will to implement forced evacuation when called for. Shelters for evacuees should be well designed, built strong, and prepared ahead of time with emergency supplies of food, water, medicine, shelter, and toiletries, while government agencies are ready to augment the basic needs of evacuees.

Local disaster and risk reduction management officers should be alert. Quick communication, particularly real-time updates, is also vital in ensuring effective disaster response with first responders and search and rescue teams ready for dispatch anytime. A good example is the Purok System in the municipality of San Francisco, Camotes Island, Cebu province, which won the 2011 UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction. The Purok System allows the immediate self-organization within villages and focuses on addressing the vulnerability of every barangay in the municipality by mobilizing local resources in creating local and practical solutions based on the unique needs of every community.

All these are achievable with smooth coordination among agencies of government, all sectors of society, and the citizens. The key is to work together, as one community, as one nation. We must rebuild communities aware of the lessons of “Yolanda,” earthquakes and all other major disasters that have brought us to our feet.

PEOPLE POWWOW

BY HERBERT VEGO

Coping with ‘bed weather’

THERE’S always a way to cope with bad weather. I called it “bed weather” yesterday as typhoon “Gorio” was battering the country. I spent two extra hours curled up in bed while hearing radio updates on the typhoon. The good news was that “Gorio” would move out of the Philippine area of responsibility on Sunday!

It was not really as flooded here in Western Visayas as it was in submerged areas of Metro Manila.
I must confess, however, that I get nervous whenever rains pour longer than usual. It’s when I always remember typhoon “Frank” that devastated Iloilo City on June 18, 2008 with 6-foot floods. Up close and personal, “Frank” robbed me of my camera, books and an old typewriter.
I am not surprised whenever other typhoon victims self-deprecate, “This is our karma for knowingly polluting the environment with garbage that obstructs the free flow of rain water to the sea.”

That ought to free the Lord from responsibility over fires, floods, earthquakes, and many other natural disasters that are inappropriately called “acts of God.” It is a misnomer because it paints the picture of man struggling to survive God’s punishment, which could be in the forms of typhoon, flood, earthquake, and tsunami.

It is also wrong to say, “God would never give us a problem we are unable to solve.” That would make God a sadist. More positively appropriate would be, “God gave us the capacity to surmount problems.” It comes closer to the famous expression, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Typhoons are not our only blight. The Philippines lies on the so-called Pacific ring of fire, making it prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity, too.
One vital lesson that any natural disaster teaches us is “equality” between the rich and the poor. Both may lose everything and suddenly find themselves on equal footing. There are even instances when the poor are better-equipped to cope, simply because they are already familiar with hard times. On the other hand, the rich stand to lose more than the poor who have nothing in the first place.

It does not always pay to depend on government assistance. I know of a relative who insured his rice crop with the government-run Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC). But when he lost his harvest to typhoon, all he got from PCIC was a refund of the cost of seeds and fertilizer. To survive, he had to apply for a bank loan thereafter, and so was at risk of losing his entire farm.

Another lesson is that we should always prepare for tomorrow’s disaster, even if today’s weather is fine. It is a “given” that disaster victims with reserve wealth – money in the bank, for instance – recover faster. Those with no immediate prospect of bouncing back because they have lost everything, including their only source of income, face a blank wall. They could be so desperate as to commit suicide.

That’s ironic though, since fear of death is universally regarded as the most natural reason why we dread natural disasters.
It’s scary to even imagine that people who are supposed to rest on their laurels, having retired and are tired of any more work, may suddenly lose everything they have to natural disasters. Imagine a farmer who loses what could have been a bountiful rice harvest to an “act of God.” He suddenly falls back to poverty – if not under the ground for eternal rest.

On the positive side, he comes to terms with this “punishment” as a wake-up call. It alerts him into realization that he is not the owner but mere temporary custodian of God’s good earth.
It is written in Exodus 19:5 – “For all the earth is mine.” (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
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Ni Ime Sornito
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Syudad sang ILOILO – Patay ang isa sa duha ka high-value targets sa pagduso sang ilegal nga droga kag subjects sa warrant of arrest para sa kaso nga two counts of murder sa operasyon sang Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 6 sa Barangay Ticud, La Paz alas-3:34 sang hapon kahapon. Gindeklarar nga dead-on-arrival sa West Visayas Medical Center si Aslani Ansari alyas Boy nga nakaagom sang pilas sa lawas. Na-aresto naman ang upod sini nga si Alex Mapandi alyas Angari/Agie, 31. Sandig sa report halin kay Senior Supt. Marlon Tayaba, hepe sang CIDG-6, upod ang mga katapo sang Special Weapons And Tactics kag Iloilo City Police Office, plano nila nga i-serbe ang warrant of arrest para sa kaso nga two counts of murder kontra sa duha sang nagluntad ang insidente. Ginapasuni nga nagbatu si Ansari paagi sa pagtiro sa isa sa mga katapo sang CIDG-6 rason nga na-puersa ang mga otoridad nga magbalos kabangdanan sang iya kamatayon. Narekober naman sa paghinakop sang duha ang duha ka mga pusil kag pila ka plastic sachets sang ginapatihan shabu. Sa interbyu naman sang mga katapo sang media kay Senior Insp. Rey Sumagaysay, hepe sang La Paz PNP, sanday Ansari kag Mapandi ang ginatudlo mga suspek sa pagpatay paagi sa pagsunog sa isa ka Muslim nga nasapwan nga naputos sa plastic sa circumferential road sa Brgy. Balabago, Jaro sang tinalikdan nga bulan./H

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