House Committee on Disaster Resilience chair, Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez of Leyte (Photo courtesy of Torres-Gomez Facebook page)
MANILA – House Committee on Disaster Resilience chairperson, Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez of Leyte, on Monday said a centralized government agency is necessary to make disaster preparedness more comprehensive, responsive, and customized based on technical and scientific analysis.
Torres-Gomez said the disparity in disaster preparation and response from one local government unit (LGU) to another has been made apparent in the aftermath of Typhoon Odette.
"A disaster is just too huge and too complex for LGUs to handle on their own. And yes, some LGUs are capable, but we just cannot leave something as critical as disaster resilience, preparedness, response and recovery to the whims of chance," Torres-Gomez said.
She cited as an example Ormoc City that has invested in disaster preparedness, noting that power and water supply have been restored, allowing the citizens in Ormoc to bounce back, recover and move on from the effects of Odette, almost immediately after the storm.
Meanwhile, she said other provinces that were poorly prepared now face the prospect of power outage for at least a month, which would set back the local economy amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
"The destruction resulting from Super-typhoon Odette is, once again, a bitter reminder that we still have a long way to go in strengthening our disaster resilience. Yes, we have significantly decreased casualties due to substantial improvements in local evacuations," she said.
Aside from the creation of the Department of Disaster Resilience, she said there are still "low-lying fruit" solutions that are yet to be achieved.
She said there is a need to focus on three economic cornerstones: clearing debris from roads, protecting and restoring power lines, and maintaining internet and phone communications.
"Any lack in these economic cornerstones deeply impact the availability of basic human needs; such as, water, food and fuel supplies, as well as access to basic services; such as, banking, emergency health care, grocery and drug stores. Without these basic infrastructure elements, recovery and rehabilitation would be an uphill climb," she said.
In its update Monday afternoon, the NDRRMC reported that it has confirmed nine deaths and two injuries. Meanwhile, undergoing validation are reports of 49 deaths, 199 injured, and 18 missing.
"Odette" also left an initial PHP343,454,774 worth of damage to infrastructure and agriculture across the Visayas and Mindanao.
It also destroyed various government facilities, flood control projects, roads, bridges, and other infrastructures which amounted to PHP225,170,000, as well as various agricultural products worth PHP118,284,774.
At least 54,783 houses were either totally or partially destroyed, 41 road sections and four bridge sections collapsed, along with four airports and 118 seaports were damaged while 5,391.77 hectares of crops, and many livestock and poultry areas were completely wiped out in the affected regions. (PNA)
