Always prepare for the worst

October 1, 2018 Opinion Sideglance

There is truth in the saying that ‘an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure’. This is no less significant when a disaster or calamity will strike and the people are well prepared and have planned for any kind of onslaught well ahead of time. In fact when a community has implemented pre-emptive action that would defuse and reduce the risk and danger posed by a disaster or calamity then such measures are to be commended.

In the Philippines where we are visited by not less than three typhoons every year local government units must forever devise ways and means to mitigate and perhaps even prevent the severity of damage wrought by these natural calamities.

Here in the City of Baguio we are indeed fortunate that having had the experience of suffering the effects of  several strong typhoons  in the recent past we have become better prepared and more resilient to meet such natural disasters head on.

With the recent passage of typhoon ‘Ompong’ we welcome the announcement of the Baguio City’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) that it will scrutinize and review its disaster management plan to fine-tune it.

This is certainly necessary and in fact a disaster management plan must be automatically reviewed and evaluated each time a calamity or disaster will strike. This is necessary in order determine the lack or absence of preparations made in a certain area of disaster management and formulate a revised plan that can effectively confront any future disaster or calamity.

Obviously the keyword in such a plan is management considering that in any calamity or disaster damage to property and in extreme cases life will always occur. If there is no effective management of the disaster or calamity then surely lives and property will be placed severely at risk.

In revisiting the disaster management plan of the city some suggestions to consider are the following: the issue of difficult communications which hamper effective coordination and which can be addressed by the suggestion that an allocation of money must be made for the purchase of base radios for barangays that are more or less far from the Central Business District. The purchase of portable and quality two way radios for each of the Punong Barangays and the Barangay Kagawad who is the concerned chairperson for disaster management. Another suggestion is the identification of a suitable area for each barangay district (there are twenty barangay districts in the city) where they can store rescue equipment to be utilized by the district concerned. This is apart from the rescue equipment that can be found in each barangay. Having redundant rescue equipment is important and is actually a step in preparing for the worst disaster or calamity situation. If it is at all possible the CDRRMC should also consider acquiring small backhoes and pay-loaders as well as cranes that can be distributed and assigned in the various districts that have a high degree of possibility of land erosion and landslides. This is to guarantee that there are sufficient mechanical rescue equipments available especially in dire situations and extreme emergencies. Of course it goes without saying that each concerned district having these kinds of heavy mechanical equipment and transportation should also have two drivers for each of these equipments and are to be considered as volunteers.

Still another suggestion to address the issue of manpower is to deputize several constituents from the barangays in a particular district so that in any given disaster or calamity situation the authorities are assured of an excess number of force multipliers who can effectively respond to an emergency. In deputizing these volunteers from the barangays and districts the CDRRMC should see to it that they are given sufficient training, equipment and authority to effectively conduct rescue or evacuation measures. They are the augmentation force needed by the authorities concerned and who can respond immediately and quickly in any emergency situation during a calamity or disaster that can happen in a barangay or district.