Timely and vital updates

Basyang is the second typhoon to enter our country for this year. The alerts are out, warning everyone to take necessary precautions to protect themselves. Given that our country is often visited by typhoons, our people should be effectively trained to protect themselves against typhoons and other disasters as well.

Disaster preparation and management should be mainstreamed in all schools, offices, malls, organizations, churches even. The more knowledgeable and prepared everyone will be for any type of disaster, the prospects of damage and deaths hopefully will decrease through the years.

We, therefore, welcome the timely proposed resolution of Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon advocating barangay level "disaster risk reduction management plans with emphasis on various climate adaptation measures aimed at building or strengthening people's capacities to prepare and address the effects of climate change to minimize casualties and damage to property."

In this proposed resolution, Councilor Dizon noted that "according to the Climate Change Commission during its "Environmental Leadership in Climate Change Adaptation" training workshop, the country's typhoon belt has shifted from Northern Luzon to the Visayas including Southern Luzon, Masbate, Romblon, Boracay, Iloilo and Northern Palawan."

Thus, he continued, "in view of this "changing pattern of typhoon occurrences," it becomes more imperative that local communities especially the local government units seriously consider their respective disaster risk reduction and management plans to enable the people to cope better with the changing climate conditions."

Councilor Dizon emphasized that local communities and their respective local governments must take a proactive stance on climate adaptation measures to ensure minimal loss of lives or damage to property since the shift of the country's typhoon belt means that many communities which are not usually exposed to typhoons will now be vulnerable to the effect of typhoons such as flooding, storm surge, and landslides. Scientists and experts have repeatedly emphasized the importance of climate adaptation since "adaptation means anticipating the adverse effects of climate change and taking appropriate action to prevent or minimize the damage they can cause, or taking advantage of opportunities that may arise. It has been shown that well planned, early adaptation action saves money and lives later."

His proposed resolution requests: 1) "the Association of Barangay Councils-Cebu City Chapter and all 80 barangays of the City of Cebu to seriously formulate their respective barangay disaster risk reduction management plans with emphasis on various climate adaptation measures which is aimed at building or strengthening people's capacities to prepare and address the effects of climate change to minimize casualties and damage to property and 2) the Cebu City Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council to monitor and ensure the compliance of all Cebu City barangays on disaster preparedness and mitigation measures."

This is a proposed ordinance that needs to be supported and immediately implemented, as there is no more time to waste. Climate change is definitely here — super storms, storm surges, snow storms, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes experienced throughout the world should convince everyone that we have to do our share to stop abusing our earth and to prepare as early and as effectively as possible against risks to life and resources that climate change will and can bring.

The disasters that hit our country last year left us with very important lessons to learn to better protect our people and our resources. Months after the disasters, we still have to see a comprehensive report that contains the list of all those affected by the disasters (their identities, their personal and household profile), where these people are, how they were affected by the disasters and how and when their needs have been met by whom (which local or international agency). We hope such a comprehensive post-disaster report can serve to check and monitor whether all have been responded to adequately at all levels, all the way to the sitios, in all affected areas.

We also hope the comprehensive report will detail how much donations, in cash and in kind, have been received by whom and from whom and how these donations have been allocated and spent, the information, people involved, and networks for donation receipt and utilization as transparent as the blue skies that appeared after the storms and the earthquakes.

So much to be done so the disaster survivors can move on with their lives and so that more, if not all, are protected against future disasters. Time to act resolutely NOW, time to act together, in a united fashion NOW.

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