President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. during a briefing with the NDRRMC after the onslaught of Typhoon Karding. Screenshot from PTV/RTVM
MANILA, Philippines — Amid the havoc of Typhoon Karding, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that the country “may have gotten lucky” because of the government’s preparedness for sustaining only minimal damages and casualties due to the onset of the tropical cyclone.
Marcos presided over a briefing with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and government officials on Monday, when Karding is expected to exit the Philippine area of responsibility, wherein they presented data showing that there is little damage and no casualty caused by Karding.
“Well, I think that we may have gotten lucky at least this time, a little bit. I think it’s clear from what we did these last two days is that very, very important is preparation,” the President said during the briefing.
“Get people out of the areas of danger, put all of your assets that you’re going to use kapag mag-rescue (when conducting rescues), para mag-(for) relief, put them in place as much as possible. It’s really in the preparation,” he added.
The chief executive also noted that early preparation for calamities would be the approach that the government will take all the time.
“So, I think this is a good illustration of how that (preparation) can really help. That’s the approach we will take always,” he said.
During the same briefing, Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Erwin Tulfo reported that at least 10,000 families are staying in evacuation centers.
Marcos commended local government units (LGUs) for encouraging their constituents to seek safer grounds.
“The LGUs did a good job na explaining what the situation was, what needs to be done, anong plano (what the plan was),” he said.
“It all comes down to coordination. ‘Yung preemptive evacuation kaya naging successful ‘yan dahil ka-partner natin na mabuti ang LGU,” continued the president.
(The preemptive evacuation became successful because we are in partnership with LGUs.)
Despite Marcos’ praises for government officials, he assured the public that they would not “stand down” until most evacuees returned to their residences.
“It’s not yet over. Hindi pa tayo mag-(We will not) stand down. I think the point that we can say we can stand down is when the majority of our evacuees are already back home,” he stressed.
Based on the NDRRMC’s latest report, there were no casualties caused by Typhoon Karding.