MANILA, Philippines - Nearly six of every 10 Filipinos or 56 percent think the Aquino administration should prioritize early warning mechanisms to prepare for future natural disasters, results of a recent Pulse Asia survey show.
“Near to sizeable majorities” across geographic areas (50 percent to 65 percent) and socio-economic groupings (49 percent to 65 percent) voiced the same opinion. However, in Mindanao, only 38 percent supported the view.
The survey also found 19 percent of Filipinos favoring greater focus on stockpiling of relief goods, 16 percent on identifying and fixing evacuation centers, and 10 percent on the purchase of equipment like rubber boats and life jackets.
The survey, conducted from Feb. 24 to March 6, was held before the deadly magnitude 9.0 earthquake that hit northeastern Japan. The earthquake, the strongest in recent history, triggered a massive tsunami that killed thousands of people, including two Filipinos, and left thousands more missing. There were 1,200 survey respondents.
“For the most part, levels of support for these different initiatives across geographic areas and socio-economic classes do not vary much from the overall levels,” Pulse Asia said in a press statement.
“However, Mindanaoans are more in favor of government prioritizing the identification and repair of evacuation centers than Filipinos in general (29 percent versus 16 percent),” Pulse Asia said.
The survey also found that fewer Filipinos have been affected by weather disturbances since October last year.
Most of the respondents or 73 percent interviewed said they have not been affected by any typhoon or heavy downpour since October 2010.
Majorities across geographic areas (67 percent to 85 percent) and socio-economic groupings (70 percent to 88 percent) claimed having been unaffected by any typhoon, heavy downpour or continuous rains since October 2010.
Across geographic regions, 15 percent in the Visayas and 33 percent in Metro Manila said they were affected by these calamities while across socio-economic classes, figures ranged from12 percent in Class ABC to 30 percent in Class E.
A majority of those in Cagayan (63 percent) reported being affected by such calamities, with 43 percent of them reporting damage to properties inside their homes, 36 percent claiming destruction or loss of livelihood and 26 percent reporting parts of their houses destroyed.
Seventy percent of those who claimed to have been affected said they did not receive any form of assistance from the government.
Majorities in every geographic area (61 percent to 86 percent) and socio-economic class (69 percent to 70 percent) failed to receive any help from government.
Meanwhile, relief goods comprised the biggest form of assistance for 26 percent of the respondents.
Among those who did receive some form of help from the government, 77 percent considered relief goods to be the most important form of assistance.
Twenty-six percent of recipients of assistance said they received theirs within one to two days after the calamity, 23 percent did so within 24 hours and 20 percent reported that it took a week before they got help.
Furthermore, 14 percent said it took three to four days or more than a week before government assistance reached them, while three percent got help within five to six days.
Meanwhile, 61 percent said relief/assistance they received was insufficient – a view shared by majorities across geographic areas (57 percent to 63 percent) and socio-economic classes (57 percent to 68 percent) – while 64 percent considered other forms of assistance they received effective enough.
In contrast, 39 percent said the relief/assistance they received proved to be sufficient while 17 percent claimed the other forms of assistance they received were “not effective.”