PAGASA announced that 16 more storms or typhoons are expected to hit the country this year. Now that we know, it's time for government and institutions to work together and prevent such disasters from happening. I was listening to Joel Reyes-Zobel's program over DZBB today and one of his resource persons said that his organisation have made what he called a "spatial map", that identified certain areas believed to be disaster-prone (I think it was the Greenpeace spokesman, forgot the name, was driving kasi for a meeting).
That's a good way to start.
Government should also implement an annual crisis/disaster contingency plan since we all know that it is this time of the year when we face either El Nino or La Nina or that meteorological anomaly called "Habagat." It should have been incumbent upon government to start institutionalizing measures that would save a lot of lives. Pro-activeness is the word to remember.
I also have a proposal for government---start investing in rescue and retrieval equipment. It took 4 days before a full-blown relief operation was conducted re: Sulpicio Lines tragedy.
Also, strengthen please the National Disaster Coordinating Council. Make it a full department so that its budget is not tied with the defense budget. Hey, we're hit with freak storms, earthquakes and natural calamities and it's better to prepare for them now instead of waiting for another tragedy to happen.
Malacanang should propose a bill that would make the NDCC a department instead of just being a line agency. The palace should make it as one of their priority bills when Congress opens this July.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you very much for reading my blog. You inspired me. But if you intend to put your name "anonymous", better not comment at all. Thanks!