Gazmin ushers in Disaster Consciousness Month

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – With the rainy season looming, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin welcomed the upcoming month of July as Disaster Consciousness Month Monday at Camp Aguinaldo.

Gazmin said people should be alert and learn from the past disasters.

Heavy rains occur between July and August in the Philippines with floods and diseases becoming prevalent.

“[We] want to highlight…that Pagasa (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) has declared the start of the rainy season,” Gazmin said.

“We know that the rainy season brings floods and landslides, and all the disasters related to it, so we want to warn the people so that they would be alert and be prepared [for calamities].”

As secretary of the DND, Gazmin oversees the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council who would be the agency chief when disasters strike.

Gazmin said that past disasters should serve as lessons as future disasters, and its damage, could be foreseen and eventually prevented.

“We have practices that we should apply, and that we can right the wrongs that we have done in the past (in terms of disaster preparedness),” the Defense Secretary said. “We should see the solutions that we could make in the future.”

NDRRMC Executive Director Alexander Pama said his council could still improve on one area – coordination.

“Right now, we are a council,” Pama said. “We can improve on the coordination and add to the focus on some aspects of the organization particularly on disaster reduction.”

Earlier this June, Pama said that the public, should it happen, should assume stronger typhoons and be prepared for the onslaught that these would bring.

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