Gonzales wants RP reservists hiked to 1 million

MANILA, Philippines - Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales wants the country’s reserve military force increased from the present 350,000 to one million to assist the military in disaster management roles especially during the typhoon season.

Speaking before the cadet corps of the Philippine Military Academy in Fort del Pilar in Baguio City last Friday, Gonzales said the role of the military is now fast expanding beyond combat functions.

“The art of war may not be the real call of duty as soldiers, so I must tell you that we belong to a fast changing world and as I’ve said, our nature will be changing rather soon and leadership will be needed and the roles of our Armed Forces will be expanded,” Gonzales said, adding that he sees the military taking on more roles related to disaster management.

He also said the military’s strength should be increased to make the AFP’s current active strength of only 120,000 personnel proportional to the country’s total population of 91 million.

“That is why as your Secretary of National Defense, I’m beginning to look into the planning of our Armed Forces. I have also ordered the expansion of our reservists from 350,000 to one million,” he said.

“We are a big nation. We need more leaders and more hands that are trained and prepared to give their lives for others,” he added.

Natural disasters plaguing mankind

Meanwhile, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) said earthquakes are considered the deadliest natural disasters, accounting for 60 percent of deaths in the past decade.

UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction Margareta Wahlström said earthquakes remain a serious threat worldwide as eight of the most populous cities in the world are built on fault-lines.

“The fortunate part is that earthquakes don’t happen very often but they are the deadliest of disasters. They take large numbers of people’s lives in a split second,” Wahlström said, stressing the importance of investing in disaster risk reduction.

According to figures released yesterday by the Center for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), 3,852 disasters killed more than 780,000 people over the past 10 years, affected more than two billion others and cost a minimum of $960 billion.

In terms of human losses, Asia has repeatedly been hit by disasters during the last decade, accounting for 85 percent of all fatalities.

The most deadly disasters of the past decade were the Indian Ocean tsunami, which hit several countries in Asia in 2004, leaving 226,408 dead; cyclone “Nargis,” which killed 138,366 people in Myanmar (2008); and the Sichuan earthquake in China (2008), causing the deaths of 87,476 people.

In addition, 73,338 people were killed in the earthquake in Pakistan (2005), and 72,210 in heat waves in Europe (2003).

The CRED said the number of catastrophic events has more than doubled since the 1980-1989 period.

In contrast, the number of affected people has increased at a slower rate that may be due to better community preparedness and prevention.

The eight most populous cities on earthquake fault-lines are Tokyo, Mexico City, New York, Mumbai, Delhi, Shanghai, Calcutta and Jakarta.

Wahlström said disaster risk reduction strategies must be incorporated in the reconstruction of Haiti to minimize loss of life and destruction of key installations such as hospitals in future disasters.

The small Caribbean nation was rocked by a magnitude 7 quake on Jan. 12 that devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and affected about one third of its population of nine million. – With Pia Lee-Brago