‘Thank the Lord worst didn’t happen’

MANILA, Philippines–“I believe we should thank the Lord that our worst fear didn’t happen.”

Archbishop Jose Palma heaved a sigh of relief as Tropical Depression “Ruby,” which developed into a supertyphoon last week, struck Eastern Samar on Saturday, leapfrogged across islands at the periphery of southern Luzon, and then weakened as it blew into the West Philippine Sea on Tuesday with peak winds down to 45 kilometers per hour.

The weakened Ruby headed out to the West Philippine Sea on Tuesday after pummeling the country for three days.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) lifted all storm warning signals at midmorning yesterday and said the weather would begin improving today.

Ruby was the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year. But after traversing provinces south of Metro Manila on Monday night, Ruby weakened further from a tropical storm to a tropical depression by Tuesday morning, with maximum winds down to 45 kilometers per hour from 60 kph.

Ruby was moving west at 13 kph across the West Philippine Sea after making a final landfall on Lubang Island off Mindoro province early yesterday.

The cyclone is expected to clear the Philippine area of responsibility a little past midnight, according to Pagasa.

Weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said the waters around Luzon would be rough to very rough for fishing boats and small seacraft.

“There were damages but not as bad as we feared,” the prelate told reporters at the Cebu Cathedral on Monday night.

Metropolitan Manila had battened down the hatches for an expected wallop but the storm (international name: Hagupit) was hardly felt.

Agence France-Presse and Reuters put the overall toll of lives as of Tuesday at 27. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council confirmed three fatalities and was “validating” eight other reports of deaths. However, the provincial branch of the council in Eastern Samar province alone reported 14 confirmed deaths in the province, 4 missing and 257 injured.

Culture of preparedness

With a number of municipalities along Ruby’s path reporting no fatalities, Abigail Valte, presidential deputy spokesperson, told reporters that a “culture of preparedness” had evolved.

“We hope that this will continue and that local government units (LGUs), like [the] national [government], will continue to strive to achieve that system that may not be perfect but will always help achieve zero casualty.”

The Palace commended towns and cities that recorded no deaths or injuries from Ruby.

“We look at their models—Albay is one—and that we continue to learn from them as well and to adopt measures that they implement that can also be implemented by national government,” she said.

The Palace was hopeful that the country had learned its lessons and was now more prepared following the devastation caused by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in November last year that left more than 6,300 people dead and over 1,000 missing.

President ‘unwell’

The President was sick on Tuesday but continued to monitor relief efforts. “He is feeling a little unwell,” Valte said. Aquino skipped a Pasay City conference on fair competition Tuesday but would attend the summit commemorating the 25-year relationship between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and South Korea in the port city of Busan Dec. 11 and 12.

A Philippine National Red Cross official earlier said there were 21 deaths reported in Eastern Samar, 16 of them in Borongan. Valte said the government was still checking reported casualties under a “system of verification” that “does not only involve eyeballing a casualty.”

“This is a look behind the process of validation and vetting that needs to be undertaken before a casualty is added to the official count,” she said. “I cannot speak for the Red Cross as to the system that they implement.”

‘Excellent job’

Aquino issued orders to ensure that the country would not experience another Yolanda nightmare. Nearly 1.7 million people sheltered in evacuation centers as Ruby swirled toward the country.

Margareta Wahlstrom, head of the Geneva-based UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, said in a statement the Philippines did an “excellent job” of putting into action lessons learned from Yolanda. She said local and national government units worked together “to save lives and minimize damage” by Ruby.

“A much bigger tragedy has been avoided by the timely and effective evacuation of people in the predicted path of the typhoon. I commend the Philippine government for taking action and triggering emergency measures that have undoubtedly saved many lives,” British Ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad said in a statement.

The British government is prepared to respond to any Philippine request for assistance, Ahmad said.

Asean also has offered its assistance to the Philippines. In a letter addressed to Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, Asean Secretary General Le Luong Minh said the “Asean stands ready to assist the Philippines in the ongoing response to the disaster.” The group has deployed a six-member team to work with Philippine authorities in providing logistics support for relief operations.

LGUs got things done

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III on Tuesday credited LGUs for the low casualties. He said their work showed that they should get a bigger slice of the national budget so they could build more resilient infrastructure.

He said barangay, municipal, city and provincial officials “form the most effective first line of defense against disasters, because they can get things done without much fanfare.”

“It proves that governance is ultimately local,” said Pimentel, chair of the Senate oversight committee on local governments.

“This is a product of hard work of local officials who mobilized their resources to get their people out of harm’s way,” he added.–With reports from Christian V. Esguerra, Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Leila B. Salaverria, Jerry E. Esplanada and Christine O. Avendaño in Manila; Carmel Loise Matus, Doris C. Bongcac and Connie Fernandez, Inquirer Visayas; Reuters and AFP