Stronger disaster office proposed

A CONGRESSMAN who hails from the so-called ground zero of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” Tacloban City, is batting for the creation of a disaster mitigation office that would be equivalent to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) of the United States.

Rep. Martin Romualdez, who is running for senator, said “we need to seriously consider retooling and upgrading” the national disaster risk reduction and management council and create an agency similar to Fema.

Fema is an agency connected with the US Department of Homeland Security. Its main purpose is to coordinate federal government efforts when local authorities are overwhelmed in times of disasters and natural calamities.

“We need to elevate disaster management to a permanent position in the Cabinet,” Romualdez said in a statement.

“The country experiences an average of 20 typhoons a year, the effects of which cost billions of pesos to rehabilitate,” he said.