Razon bats for disaster risk management unit

MANILA, Philippines - Former PNP chief and Manila mayoralty bet Sonny Razon yesterday reiterated his call for the creation and institutionalization of a disaster risk management unit in the city that is on call on a “24-7” basis.

“The key to disaster risk management is preparedness. The city government should have the full capacity to immediately respond to disasters, both natural and man-made, such as fires and earthquakes and conduct rescue and relief operations even at moment’s notice because time is of the essence and lives hang in the balance,” Razon pointed out.

He made the call as a result of the series of calamities that hit various parts of the country and the fires in several areas in Manila, especially in the wake of the earthquake that hit Haiti.

Razon said there should be a full-time disaster czar that would implement the following mitigating measures: Disaster emergency response drills, establishment of monitoring and early warning systems, enhancement of the quick reaction capability of the city government by ensuring that disaster response personnel are highly trained and armed with the proper life-saving equipment, and, a constant state of readiness to conduct relief operations.

Razon said there is no need to “reinvent the wheel,” as it were, and bared that he has a team that is studying the experiences and systems of disaster-prone cities such as Los Angeles in California, USA, Tokyo in Japan, as well as that of the lessons that can be learned from the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“In Manila, there is a City Disaster Coordinating Council, which is headed by the city administrator. What I intend to do is to appoint a full-time disaster management czar, like Los Angeles has, so there will be sufficient focus on disaster risk management. We also intend to establish an auxiliary volunteer rescue corps to be composed of city government employees and even ordinary citizens who could augment our regular disaster response units,” he said.