Natural disasters: are we ready?

By Gerry T. Estrera
“Climate change is no longer a long-term environmental issue.  The first impacts are already with us, and bound to get worse.  In terms of natural hazards, this includes increases in heat waves, floods, droughts, and in the intensity of tropical cyclones, as well as higher sea levels.  Developing countries, and particularly the poorest people, are most affected.” — Maarten van Aalst, associate director and lead climate change specialist, Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Center. The Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) has been touted as the mother of all typhoons to hit the country.  The Philippine Atmospheric Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) issued public storm signal No. 4 for it.
 Here’s what Associated Press wrote of the typhoon: “Yolanda slammed the island nation with a storm surge two stories high and some of the highest winds ever measured in a tropical cyclone – 314 kilometers per hour as clocked by US satellites, or 237 kilometers per hour based on local reports.”
 “(The deadliest super typhoon) flattened the Visayas area, destroying hundreds of houses, trees, buildings and other properties, leaving a thousand of dead people,” said the Davao regional office of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) of Davao region in a statement during the recent “Iba Na Panahon: Science for Safer Communities.”
 “We learned a lot from the experience from Yolanda, what a Signal No. 4 typhoon could do to a coastal community and even across regions situated along its path,” reminds DOST Secretary Mario G. Montejo in his keynote remarks.  “The lessons and wounds from this super storm are deep enough for our people to take warnings more seriously from now on.”
 Dr. Flaviana D. Hilario, acting deputy administrator of PAGASA’s research and development, traced the alteration in the country’s weather pattern to climate change.  As a result, thePhilippines is now experiencing its effects with hotter temperatures, heavy rainfall even during summer months and stronger typhoons, she explained during the recent workshop.   
 A few months earlier, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje urged Filipinos to accept the increasing numbers of natural calamities lashing the country as a way of life.  As he said in a television interview: “There is nothing we (can) do but adapt to climate change, and the only way we could be prepared for the impact of climate change is to accept that these recent developments in our country, like intense weather disturbances, heavy rainfall, as well as (the) long dry season, are now the ‘new normal.’”
 The Washington-based World Bank knows it all along.  “Changes in temperatures and weather patterns will affect the frequency and severity of rainfall, droughts, floods, access to water, flood protection, health, and the use of land,” said Katherine Sierra, the bank’s vice president for sustainable development. “These impacts will not be evenly distributed.  The poorest countries and people, those least responsible for climate change and least able to cope with it, will suffer earliest and most due to their geographical location, low incomes, and low institutional capacity.”
 “The Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone places on Earth,” said Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado.  “They’ve got it all. They’ve got earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, tropical cyclones, landslides.”
 “When disaster strikes no one is indispensable,” said Wilhelm Suyco, the regional officer-in-charge of the Department of Interior and Local Government in Davao region. 
 “Every year, between 600 and 800 natural disasters occur, some small and localized, others affecting several countries and many thousands of people,” writes Bob Hansford, disaster risk management advisor at Tearfund, a Christian relief and development agency.
 Disasters often recur in the same place – annually or with a gap of some years.  In 1972, Central Luzon was inundated due to four storms – in July to August – that hit the region.  When Typhoons Pedring and Quiel visited Central Luzon, the region was again flooded.
 In his article, “Managing disaster and building safer communities,” Hansford talk about the four things that happen when a disaster strikes: emergency response, rehabilitation, mitigation, and preparation.
 “In the first few days and weeks after a disaster, there is a need for search and rescue, medical care, food, water, sanitation and shelter, as well as emotional support,” explains on what an emergency response is.
 Rehabilitation comes next.  “As the weeks pas, houses need to be repaired, water supplies restored, and livelihoods re-instated,” Hansford says.  “Rehabilitation is often called recovery.”
 Mitigation is closely linked to rehabilitation.  Examples include: stronger or raised houses, water pumps on raised platforms, alternative crops to cope better with flood or drought.  “Mitigation activities help to ‘build back better,’ making the community more resistant to future hazards,” he says.
 Preparation is getting ready for the next disaster that comes.  For a storm or flood, it means establishing a warning system, setting aside food or water stocks, making ready an evacuation center or training volunteers.
 Based on the lessons of Super Typhoon “Yolanda,” the DOST has come up with a 4-point agenda to guide community disaster preparedness: (1) increase local risk knowledge, (2) capacitate hazards monitoring, (3) test warning and communications protocol, and (4) build response capability in communities.
 When asked on how Filipinos can response to disasters, Dr. Teofredo T. Esguerra, a flight surgeon who is an expert on emergency medical services, replies: “Filipinos should make it like a part of their lives.   They should be like Japanese who are always prepared; in fact, they have some survival kits which have already become a part of their day-to-day activities.”