Defense chief: Philippines not prepared for 'Yolanda'

MANILA, Philippines - Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin admitted on Friday that the Philippines was not prepared for a typhoon as strong as “Yolanda.”

Gazmin, who also serves as chairman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said the typhoon underscored the need to boost preparations and to work closely with local governments.

“Actually we were not prepared for that kind of typhoon. It (Yolanda) was too strong, signal number four. It appears that it was the strongest in the world. Any country that will be hit by it would experience the same,” the defense chief said in Filipino.

“We really need to plan well and to preposition equipment intended for such strong typhoon so that when another one of such magnitude enters the country, at least we won’t be wiped out and we are prepared,” he added.

Typhoon “Yolanda,” which ravaged a huge part of the Visayas, has claimed the lives of 5,598 persons as of Friday.

The typhoon also left 26,136 injured and 1,759 others missing. More than 2.3 million families or almost 11 million persons have been affected in nine regions while 3.8 individuals have been displaced.

“Yolanda” has also damaged P27.84 billion in agriculture and infrastructure and more than one million houses.

Gazmin said local governments should be organized so that they won’t be crippled totally when a disaster strikes.

He cited the case of Leyte, wherein only 20 of the 200-member police department were able to report for duty a day after “Yolanda” hit the province.

Gazmin also cited the need to amend the Building Code to ensure that structures can withstand winds that move from 250 to 350 kilometers per hour.

The government, Gazmin said, is also considering moving people in hazard-prone places to safer areas.

“We will get them out of the danger or those geohazard areas. We will come up with no-build zones so we have to relocate them,” he said.

Gazmin admitted that there would have been less casualties had the people in risk-prone areas been transferred before the typhoon arrived.

He also cited the need for the public to learn terms like "storm surge" and "tsunami" as well as ways to prepare for them.

Gazmin also cited the importance of acquiring additional C-130 cargo planes for relief efforts and satellite phones to ensure continuous information flow after a disaster.

“This is not the time for blaming one another. This is the time to sit down, talk and help and assist our countrymen to stand up, and to come up with a better environment,” he said.