The giving of relief aid to earthquake victims in Bohol is problematic. For one, not all places badly hit by the quake can be reached because of distance or difficult access. Second, some of the victims are not necessarily needy or they have some means to get by but would still fall in line to receive relief goods. Third, even if they are not badly affected, some families are so poor that they will avail of any help coming, which greatly increases the number of people lining up for assistance. Then there is the problem of politicians who take control of the distribution and claim credit for it or give them to favored groups who supported them in past elections.
Having said that, I still feel that more could have been done to give assistance to quake victims in a more timely and sufficient manner and help normalize their situation immediately. This can be achieved if an Integrated Disaster Management Plan exists from the national level down to the barangay.
Such a plan deals firstly with measures to avoid or prevent any natural or man-made disasters, the response needed to mitigate the impact of the disaster and post-disaster programs for the recovery and the return to normalcy of the lives of the people affected.
Many processes should be executed by different groups in a coordinated manner directed by only one authority or agency. All this requires preparedness, including training and the necessary dissemination of the plan appropriate for each level of government unit for the information and guidance of all concerned.
Disaster management is not the same for all emergencies, of course. For example, we don’t know when an earthquake will strike, where and in what magnitude but certainly, with the aid of new technology, we would know when a typhoon is coming, its estimated strength and direction and accompanying amount of rainfall that could increase the risk of flooding.
When war is declared we will know it but not terrorist attacks. All these and many other forms of disasters that come with our modern way of life now like industrial sabotage and communication failure are emergencies that have different kinds of impact and need advance planning for their prevention or mitigation.
Given the different nature and causes of emergencies, planning for their prevention or mitigation of their impact therefore requires the discipline and profession of many experts in applied sciences and technology and the arts of planning and management. It just cannot be entrusted to politicians or political appointees who have no qualification other than being close to the people in power.
Again, in principle, emergency planning aims to prevent the occurrence of emergencies when possible or when they do occur, emergency planning should be directed at controlling or reducing the damage in human lives and properties caused by the emergency. Emergency planning involves so many processes that may be executed simultaneously or one after another with the most efficient use of human, material and financial resources at hand for more effective result in lessening human sufferings and property losses.
Like any planning activity, emergency planning is a cycle which typically starts from the identification of risks, evaluation of these risks as to their likelihood of happening and potential degree impact and therefore their prioritization for intervention purposes, formulation of measures to prevent these risks from being realized or reduce their impact to some tolerable level when unavoidable, reporting and monitoring of the risk identified, and continuing review and refinement of the plan to consider new information and knowledge on disasters and their management.
In the case of the last earthquake in Cebu and Bohol, nobody knew it was coming but that should not excuse us from planning for such an eventuality. Firstly, we know that the Philippines lie within the Pacific ring of fire where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are more common than in any other parts of the world. An earthquake and volcanic eruption which are closely related as to their cause are not alien to us in the Philippines anymore. Yet it took us some time to know the extent of the damage and specific areas that are badly damaged in Bohol. More than this, it also took us some times to organize rescue operation and the collection and distribution of whatever assistance we can give to the people who suffered most from the quake.
When power lines went down in Bohol, was there no emergency power generator in each barangay or municipal hall in order to continue the supply of power vitally needed for communication and other emergency purposes? When a water supply system was destroyed in one town, was there no emergency supply of water from some protected water storage somewhere in the municipality? When a modern concrete bridge was down in Loon, was there no ready stock of prefabricated Bailey bridge in the province of Bohol that can be mounted in due time to allow people and vehicles to cross the river easily.
Finally, who is running the whole show? Must the president himself come and give the orders like what he did in Zamboanga when the MNLF came? The mayor of Maribojoc, Bohol has his own rules; the Red Cross has another. And the different NGOs and private sector groups who organized themselves to assist the victims in Bohol just go their own way.
So much for disaster management planning in the Philippines!