Leave disaster areas—NDRRMC

MANILA, Philippines—Leave disaster areas and never return.

This was what National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Executive Director Benito Ramos advised to the victims of widespread floods caused by torrential monsoon rains over the past days.

“Relocate them to a safer place, once and for all relocate them. But that’s easier said than done,” Ramos told reporters in a briefing Friday.

He said that people were living in coastal areas and in riverways that are “nature’s territory.”

And after the relentless rains “nature is reclaiming its territory. So once and for all, leave the area,” Ramos said.

He however pointed out the problem of livelihood once the people are relocated. He said job opportunities was the primary reason why people were flocking to Metro Manila and becoming informal settlers living near river banks, storm drains and canals, dumping garbage and impeding the flow of waterways

Urban planning experts have placed the blame on local governments’ lack of sufficient planning on drainage and urbanization.

A government report released previously called for 2.7 million people in shantytowns to be moved from “danger zones” alongside riverbanks, lakes and sewers.

“With the increasing number of people occupying danger zones, it is inevitable there are a lot of people who are endangered when these things happen,”  urban planner Nathaniel Einseidel was quoted as saying in a newspaper report.

Ramos said that people should start preparing for 14 more storm expected to hit the year up to December. “Nature has taught us to not return to [disaster-prone] areas,” he said.

He also added that Filipinos should have discipline in waste management. “Burara ang Pinoy eh,” they should improve the discipline, he said.

Right now, government agencies were focusing on the clean-up operations to prevent sickness.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so what do we do? Mitigation and prevention, we should clean up. The people will not get sick if it is clean,” Ramos said.

There was no disease outbreak yet in the evacuation centers. Ramos assured that there was enough relief supplies to sustain the evacuees. “We have additional 100,000 food packs in the National Resources Operations Center of the Department of Social Welfare and Development,” Ramos said.