EDITORIAL - Enhancing disaster management

Contrary to the claim of Maguindanao local officials, the country’s geohazard map clearly shows in red the areas prone to landslides in the province, now gerrymandered into two, as well as the rest of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Science Secretary Renato Solidum pointed this out amid reports that residents of coastal communities in Maguindanao were evacuated from the shores to avoid possible storm surges or tsunami that might be spawned by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng. The evacuees were brought to higher ground, where they ran smack into deadly mudslides unleashed by days of incessant rain even before Paeng made landfall.

The mudslide area is marked in red in the geohazard map that can be accessed on government websites, according to Solidum, a geologist. Rainfall warnings, color-coded for easier understanding, are also issued regularly during weather disturbances, he said.

Certain disaster mitigation protocols are associated with the color-coded warnings. The question is whether local government units are aware of the protocols, or even bother to study the geohazard maps, which also specify areas prone to earthquakes and flooding.

Even if local government officials do not scrutinize the geohazard maps in their areas of jurisdiction, there are localized disaster risk reduction and management councils that are supposed to have personnel tasked to study such maps and coordinate with government officials for appropriate responses.

With the death toll soaring to over 110 from Paeng, a weather disturbance that was not even categorized as a typhoon, various agencies involved in disaster management should get together for improved coordination and information dissemination on the risks associated with natural calamities.

The creation of a new department of disaster resiliency, with all the additional costs it will entail, will not resolve these problems of disorganization in disaster response. There are local government units that will continue to act like independent republics, without bothering to review available geohazard maps that can serve as guideposts in drawing up plans for disaster preparedness. Many LGU officials move swiftly only in placing disaster-hit areas under a state of calamity because it speeds up the release of public funds.

Government scientists may have to conduct additional training or upskilling for personnel of disaster management councils, not only on the proper use of geohazard maps but also to finesse protocols on responses to rainfall alerts, which are different from typhoon warnings that are based on wind speeds. A typhoon can bring destructive winds but not enough heavy rainfall. A storm may not have such powerful winds, but can bring torrential amounts of rainfall within a short period, as Ondoy did in September 2009, spawning catastrophic flooding. Paeng, also classified as a storm, should offer lessons in enhancing disaster management.