The UN praised the Philippine government for its quick and pre-emptive response to Typhoon Koppu, suggesting that its handling of the disaster must be a model for other countries susceptible to natural disasters.
More than 300 villages were submerged within the typhoon that struck last Sunday morning, claiming the lives of greater than 50 people. Tens of hundreds of individuals remain in evacuation centers and the federal government has reported agricultural losses of greater than $13 million, with rice crops hit hardest.
But despite the devastation brought on by Typhoon Koppu, Margareta Wahlström, head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, said other countries could learn from the timely response of the federal government and native and international non-governmental organizations that mitigated the cyclone’s impact.
Wahlström said: “The Philippines is the most hurricane-prone country in the world and its expertise in disaster risk management can be usefully leveraged by other countries trying to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, adopted in March this year as a global plan to reduce losses from natural disasters.”
The Philippines is hit by about 20 typhoons a yr, probably the most powerful of which occurred in 2013, when Typhoon Haiyan claimed 6,300 lives and left one other 2,000 people unaccounted for.
Read more: Typhoon Koppu displaces 15,000 people, destroys homes because it hits most important Philippine island of Luzon
In the wake of Haiyan, the Philippine government and aid agencies have renewed their deal with disaster risk reduction and preparedness, emphasizing the importance of early warning systems, clear evacuation points, advance deployment of aid to distant communities, and public education on safer places to construct homes and plant crops.
“The provision of early warnings in the Philippines has improved significantly since Typhoon Haiyan,” Wahlström said. “Government agencies managed to reduce the death toll by effectively communicating early warnings and organizing targeted evacuations in the hardest-hit areas.”
Wahlström hailed President Benigno Aquino’s broadcast to the nation on the Friday evening before the typhoon hit as a crucial step in preparing people for the storm’s arrival two days later.
Aaron Aspi of World Vision’s Philippine office said that while the impact of the most recent typhoon can have been more severe, it’ll take time for the country to get well.
“We are still within the early stages of response, the typhoon has just left the northern Philippine mainland and is heading towards the ocean,” Aspi said.
“The government is making efforts to clear roads, flooding is starting to recede in some areas, but flooding is still occurring in others. “Thousands of people are still in evacuation centers, so reconstruction is still ahead of us, but the preparatory measures taken by the government have helped greatly in minimizing the number of casualties.”
Aspi said it was clear that the country had learned lessons from the experience of Typhoon Haiyan.
“Since Haiyan, great progress has been made in disaster risk reduction, both by the government and non-governmental organizations. This applies especially to the advocacy side – this year the Act on Assistance and Protection of Children in Emergency Situations was adopted, which places greater emphasis on protecting children, who are very vulnerable in such times, he said.
The Philippine government is reviewing its disaster risk reduction laws to incorporate more recommendations issued after Haiyan and other typhoons.
“We really focused on putting communities at the center of the preparations, because that’s the only way the project can be a success,” Aspi added. “So communities, including children, marked their areas and indicated where it was safe and where it was not. Of course, there is always room for improvement in this area, especially when it comes to ensuring that plans are inclusive and take into account the knowledge of both women and older people. But we’re definitely making progress.”
