Preparing for disaster

Typhoons, earthquakes and floods. Oh my. We have historically been the most disaster prone country in the world. But, in our memory, we have never seen a year like this. As far as we can tell the Year of Typhoons is not yet over. Pagasa is reporting that we may see more weather disturbances over the November 1 long weekend.

It has been reported that there were difficulties in handling official emergency response to the recent calamities. This is an issue that, while not easily solved, can be through proper planning and implementation. Further, other countries in the regions have been wracked by earthquakes and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology recently reported the potential of a destructive earthquake being generated by the Marikina fault line. Now is the time to rework our official emergency response procedures.

The United Nations Development Program recently said that the Philippines is in severe need of an independent disaster management agency to coordinate disaster response: a sentiment echoed by others in the Philippines. To learn more about what a disaster response organization would do we sought out an expert on disaster management and response. Thomas D. Skalomenos is an old friend who is a disaster management consultant and has worked extensively in and with the United States Government and military and US cities to develop, design and implement disaster response organizations and procedures. He has first-hand personal experience in managing disaster and emergency response in the field in different countries around the world. Mr. Skalomenos said that first of all any disaster management organization must have a plan in place:

“1. There should be an over-reaching plan that addresses the key elements necessary to support the populace; namely medical response, food/water and sanitation plans. Population evacuation procedures, police or military protection and assistance, recovery procedures, communication lines, and so forth must be a part of the plan.

2. This over-reaching plan should define responsibilities of response organizations: Identify key agencies and persons for their respective emergency disaster response responsibilities and a detailed emergency response training schedule.”

The organization must also have the ability to coordinate national, local and civilian resources in times of calamity. The responsibility of the disaster organization is also to develop and implement the necessary training programs for all government and non-government entities. Remember, all of this is pre-calamity. Post-calamity they are in charge of directing and coordinating rescue and humanitarian efforts.

Another key part, according to Mr. Skalomenos, of disaster response is training. Response programs, lines of communication, coordination and procedures must be in place and reinforced through training exercises. Entities involved in trainings would include our national and local government agencies, military, police, non-government organizations and civilians. Proper training, communication and preparation will save lives. He, as well, recommends having an independent agency to coordinate disaster management, response and training.

According to Mr. Skalomenos, part of any response to a disaster is a central command post to handle rapid response to calamity stricken areas. Allocation of resources and manpower flows through this center: “We had a command post consisting of designated persons responsible for the key elements, people on hand that reported in the status of their areas and a system for decision-making and the allocation of assets. A master board was maintained outlining the current status of all key services to the area affected.” The role of a ‘central command post’ underlines the serious need for an overarching disaster response agency.

This being said, the response of individuals, the military, corporations and the government to Ondoy and Pepeng was inspiring. Working with what they had available, Filipinos were able to work miracles. However, we have to make sure there is even more support in place in the future. We owe it to all the victims of calamities, and those who sacrificed to help them.