written by : by Jerome J. Auza
Super Typhoon Yolanda was probably the strongest typhoon to ever make landfall in recorded history and yet we thought we were ready for it. Yolanda flattened Tacloban City and many other cities and towns along its path. We thanked God it spared Bohol otherwise it would have been a double disaster for us.
But us in Bohol were caught off guard, not by the typhoon itself, but by its impact: total blackout in most areas of the province. The damaged transmission facilities of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines will take several months to repair. A temporary solution to connect Bohol to the grid will take several weeks. All these assuming there are no delays.
As an IT services company, Auza.Net need to continue its operations and we have to resort to using generators at the cost of Php1000 per day. This is enough only to run our computers and the network and everyone has to contend with the heat and humidity. A resort in Panglao is spending Php14,000 per day on generators and unfortunately they have to close for the mean time. It doesn’t take much brains to conclude that the power situation would have a domino effect on Bohol’s economy.
Bohol doesn’t even have enough electrical generating capacity to run Tagbilaran City. Next to no electrical service is no water supply in areas dependent on electrical pumps. Drinking water producers have closed shop also, except those who have access to a water source and have generators. But they are selling their product at a higher price due to the higher cost of production.
Disaster preparedness in the Philippines doesn’t seem to take into account that during disasters, the ability to cook is also affected. The famous DSWD food pack is comprised of rice, canned goods, noodles and a few other goodies. This is not the correct food pack since a devastating storm could wipe out all means of cooking so the rice and noodles would be no good. Canned goods may somehow be useful because one can have many ways of opening it without a proper can opener. Even if you somehow manage to cook the rice and noodles, what nutrition can be expected from these to last through the crisis period?
In Tacloban, netizens were quick to criticize the national government for the slow progress of distributing goods. The excuse was that roads are not passable. Why not drop the food packs from a chopper? That won’t actually work because the packaging of the food pack is not strong enough to withstand the impact. And who can cook there given the conditions after the typhoon? There must be a better way to be ready for disaster and allow the citizens to access food that are ready to eat, can be air dropped if necessary, have very good packaging that even if the package gets submerged in a flood, the food itself is not affected.
Electricity and communications were knocked out of service and the two cities of Tacloban and Ormoc that could have served as bases for relief operations were decimated. Without support from the cities, the rest of Leyte seemed to have been paralyzed for many days. Compare this scenario to that of Bohol after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on October 15, 2013 where Tagbilaran City was relatively undamaged and food and water supply is available for volunteers to purchase and send to the disaster sites. Private citizens, using their own resources and donations they solicited, immediately mobilized to help friends and relatives in the affected towns. Then the LGUs engaged their disaster relief programs and then finally the national government was able to step in. Of course there were various organizations involved also like Rotary, Jaycees, Red Cross and many others.
Even with the support from Tagbilaran and all the volunteers, the victims of the Bohol earthquake, especially those in the farthest barangays, did not immediately receive help. This just means that disaster preparedness should be at the barangay level, and even at the household level for those who have the means. Barangays should have stock of ready to eat rations and drinking water that have very long shelf life that will only be used during disasters. The first three days is very critical as help may not arrive immediately.
If each barangay has stock emergency food and water, then whenever there is a disaster, unaffected barangays can immediately help, further extending the time that the victims can eat and drink before help from outside the LGU arrives.