Preparing for disaster Part II

In our Tuesday, October 27, 2009 column we covered part of our conversation with Tom Skalomenos (a disaster response expert with over 30 years experience in the field) about what running a disaster/emergency response agency would entail. With our much discussed reputation as the most natural disaster prone country in the world, having a functioning and efficient disaster/emergency response agency is not a luxury, but a necessity for survival.

From our conversation, what is essential is that a disaster/emergency response agency must be organized around a specific plan that addresses the elements necessary to support a population: medical response, rescue and recovery procedures, emergency lines of communication, procedures for coordinating between organizations, and even post-calamity recovery needs assessments (humanitarian needs and infrastructure rebuilding). Training programs and drills for all agencies with responsibilities in an emergency to ensure rapid response is important. This includes the military, police and non-government agencies alike. Any group that will be involved in emergency situations has to be trained, drilled and made aware of their responsibilities. Response during a crisis must be seamless and rapid so lives can be saved. The deployment of resources and personnel should flow through one central ‘command post’ or organization.

What was interesting was that Tom repeatedly stressed that communication and coordination are important parts of disaster response pre-calamity: “…checking what communications would survive and could be used; what emergency communications would we use.” In terms of coordination, “In general, there were plans for securing the affected regions (ie, evacuation of people, security procedures like the boarding up of windows, doors, etc). Checking on water and food supplies on-hand.” This is part of disaster preparedness, or making sure that the equipment, infrastructure and personnel are in place to rapidly respond to an emergency.

There is also a concept called “disaster mitigation”: making sure that there are plans and procedures in place to lessen injuries and potential deaths. Disaster mitigation is not something that is in widespread practice; instead, the reverse seems more the norm. What is the best example of disaster mitigation? Not building on known floodplains.

 Post-calamity the roles and responsibilities of a disaster/emergency management agency change drastically: from focusing on training, mitigation and preparedness to rescue and humanitarian issues and coordination concerns. As Tom Skalomenos relates, “Then after the typhoon, the sending of the on-scene response teams (usually medical, support services, communications, police, with the on-scene commander) was the first step. Inspection of civilian-use water sources and food supplies, inspection of power systems, evacuation of injured and homeless, securing the areas, tallying the manpower pool, evaluating reconstruction requirements, and checking/building shelters were all part of post-emergency operating procedures.”

One thing Tom Skalomenos would stress was the items we were discussing were just off the top of his head. He just discussed the generalities, not the specifics, of disaster/emergency response. The realities of running such an organization and its responsibilities are much more complex and intricate. Such an organization must make sure that all phases of disaster management are covered: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. We agree with him that it is vital a disaster/emergency response agency be independent and empowered to handle all of these areas. Emergency management is a full-time job and should be handled as such.

We hope the need for an independent disaster and crisis management agency is not lost amid the upcoming election campaigns. There is a serious need for this agency in the Philippines; our politicians and civic authorities should remember this. The worst that could happen is no reforms, no changes, no improvements are made in the wake of what has occurred in the country. The need to preserve Filipinos lives is non-partisan and a-political. We are all well-aware of the natural disaster situation in the country and should not continually be caught unprepared. We urge this administration and the next to make developing and implementing a functioning, professional and non-partisan disaster/emergency response agency a priority.