DND: Phl was not ready for Yolanda

MANILA, Philippines - Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin yesterday admitted the Philippines was not prepared for a typhoon as powerful as Yolanda.

Gazmin, who also chairs the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said the super typhoon underscored the need to boost preparations and work closely with local governments.

“Actually we were not prepared for that kind of typhoon. It was too strong, signal number four. It appears that it was the strongest in the world. Any country that will be hit by it would experience the same,” Gazmin said in Filipino.

“We really need to plan well and to preposition equipment intended for such strong typhoon so that when another one of such magnitude enters the country, at least we won’t be wiped out and we are prepared,” he added.

Yolanda, known globally as Super Typhoon Haiyan, ravaged a huge part of the Visayas, claiming the lives of 5,598 persons as of yesterday, according to NDRRMC.

The typhoon also left 26,136 injured and 1,759 others missing. More than 2.3 million families or almost 11 million persons have been affected in nine regions while 3.8 million individuals have been displaced.

The monster storm also damaged P27.84 billion in agriculture and infrastructure and more than one million houses.

Gazmin said local governments should be organized so that they won’t be totally crippled when a disaster strikes.

He cited the case of Leyte, where only 20 of its 200-strong police force were able to report for duty a day after Yolanda hit the province.

Gazmin also cited the need to amend the Building Code to ensure that structures can withstand winds from 250 to 350 kilometers per hour.

The government is also considering moving people in hazard-prone places to safer areas, Gazmin said.

“We will get them out of the danger or those geohazard areas. We will come up with no-build zones so we have to relocate them,” he said.

Gazmin admitted there would have been less casualties had the people in risk-prone areas been transferred before the typhoon arrived.

He said the public needed to learn terms like “storm surge” and “tsunami” as well as ways to prepare for them.

Gazmin also cited the importance of acquiring additional C-130 cargo planes for relief efforts and satellite phones to ensure continuous information flow after a disaster.

“This is not the time for blaming one another. This is the time to sit down, talk and help and assist our countrymen to stand up, and to come up with a better environment,” he said.

Front row seats

Gazmin himself witnessed the fury of Yolanda when it made landfall on Nov. 8.

Gazmin, along with Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, were sent by President Aquino to Tacloban City to oversee preparations a day before Yolanda made landfall.

News5 obtained videos and photos of the activities of the Cabinet officials at the Leyte Park Hotel on the morning of Nov. 8, when Yolanda made landfall and laid waste to Eastern Visayas.

Roxas told News5 that he, Gazmin and other officials got up early to meet at 6 a.m. at the hotel lobby and noticed that the wind was already picking up, leading them to conclude Yolanda had made landfall in Tacloban City earlier than expected.

The video showed Roxas, Gazmin and other staff members seated in the open air lobby of the Leyte Park Hotel when the wind started to pick up.

They were later seen texting on their cellphones, while others were able to make calls before mobile signals went dead.

Several minutes later, the video showed the wind getting stronger and visibility outside turning to zero.

Several pieces of furniture inside the open-air hotel lobby were tossed about by Yolanda’s winds. Outside, shingles of the lobby driveway’s roof were blown off by the strong winds that also rocked the cars parked on the driveway. The winds were so strong that one van was moved sideways while other cars were rocked, triggering auto alarms. A wayward GI sheet hit a car parked nearby.

The imminent danger forced Roxas and Gazmin to order all hotel guests and staff to evacuate to the hotel’s basement. By this time, the power had gone out and people had to be guided with flashlights.

Roxas and Gazmin can be overheard in the video telling people to remain calm and continue moving to the basement.

Later in the afternoon, the two officials emerged from the hotel as Yolanda passed, although it was still raining heavily. The photos showed Roxas and Gazmin going around the hotel inspecting the damage. They were also looking for a possible area in the hotel that could serve as a temporary command post but the damage was too extensive.

Some of the hotel’s cottages, located near the shoreline, were washed away and debris was strewn over a huge area. Some of the staff members of the two officials were staying there and many lost their belongings.

One photo showed Roxas, wearing a yellow hooded jacket, and Gazmin, clad in a blue jacket, going around the hotel area; both appeared shocked by the damage wrought by Yolanda’s strong winds, whose gusts measured up to 300 kilometers per hour.
The photos showed the two officials trying to walk from the hotel to the Tacloban City Hall through the roads choked with fallen trees and debris.

The city hall suffered substantial damage such as blown out windows, destroyed roofs and water inside the offices.

Roxas and Gazmin met with city hall personnel, who had camped out to ride out the storm. That initial meeting focused on finding out the extent of damage and where key people were.

Roxas and Gazmin later met with acting Tacloban police chief Senior Superintendent Domingo Cabillan and his men on duty to set up the initial command center at the police station, one of the few structures still intact.

The two officials were also met by city administrator Tecson Lim, who informed them that they lost contact with Mayor Alfred Romualdez and already dispatched a team to check on him. – DJ Sta. Ana/News5