Integrated, comprehensive disaster management

The Pacific Rim has gone on very active mode lately: earthquakes in Alaska and Indonesia, volcanic eruptions in our country and in Japan. We pray everyone stays safe and protected from these disasters and, God forbid, future disasters.

Cebu City has also been hit by fires, the latest one being that in Sitio Baca, Barangay Apas. This particular fire started during rush hour at about 8 a.m. Our prayers go out to the victims of the fire. Imagine leaving your house early morning, only to return later to ashes, loss, and damage.

To prevent damage and harm to people and property in the future, may everyone seriously consider the insights and lessons provided by the fire in Apas?

One, it is almost a given that fire trucks have difficulty getting to areas with narrow or no road access. Reminders for communities to always provide road access for emergency cases sadly go unheeded. The reason? Densely populated communities barely have space for pedestrian or vehicle access. Residents, often of unauthorized occupants, will try to utilize any available space for their own households.

Still, local authorities will need to try harder to make the communities comply. Having a community emergency management team, accessible road for emergency providers, plus stable and available water supply and ready temporary shelter for the victims, among others, should be made compulsory.

For sure, the city has laws for enforcement. How to effectively implement these laws for compliance is a lesson that local governments need to pay attention to more seriously. Such compliance can translate to lives and resources saved and protected.

 A second lesson from last Tuesday’s fire was its unexpected huge impact on traffic.  An integrated, comprehensive disaster management plan should already include a traffic management contingency plan always.

  As fire trucks had to be prioritized, access roads leading to Barangay Apas had to be cleared and traffic rerouted. The road near Gaisano Country Mall was closed, without ready alternative on hand. Commuters spent two to three hours trying to get to work, to school and to other destinations. A.S Fortuna was clogged; so were Talamban, Cabancalan, and the route to Mandaue.

Traffic enforcers may have tried their best to manage this problem within and leading to Apas. However, no one seemed to have had an overview of the impact on traffic beyond the barangay, beyond Cebu City to Mandaue, including Talamban, Cabancalan, A.S. Fortuna, perhaps Consolacion as well and beyond.

A third lesson to be considered in order to contain harm and damage to humans and property is disaster contingency plans that include already-tested, effective action measures and networks for ready implementation not only on site — at the specific location of a disaster — and within a city or municipality.

  Plans must, at the same time, anticipate other consequences the disaster/emergency may have, not only on the specific location, but on immediate and outlying areas. Hence, comprehensive disaster plans need to include the ready and active involvement and collaboration of several other communities and local governments.

 The fourth lesson: integrated, comprehensive disaster plans need to be multi-sectoral. The fire department and the police department, traffic enforcers, health personnel, communication officers, team of psychologists, social welfare staff and an emergency/disaster coordinator, among others, have to be present as a working team, ready and knowledgeable about the chain of command, the routes to take, the measures to facilitate the saving of lives and property, to reach out soonest to the victims in terms of urgent care and services.

Finally, disaster management plans should include integrated, comprehensive immediate and long-term post-disaster management measures to expedite the provisions of services urgently needed by the affected victims and their households. Affected local communities will also need to include in their contingency plans an interwoven effective network with regional and national agencies.

May we be more protected and saved by proactive, ready, effective, integrated, comprehensive disaster management plans. Also, keep safe, everyone!