Editorial - Typhoon preparedness

President Aquino was reported to have been satisfied by the preparedness of concerned agencies against "Juan," a super typhoon that weather forecasters said was the most powerful to hit the Philippines in recent years.

This time, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration did its job well. It correctly monitored the storm - which traversed Northern Luzon - giving a blow-by-blow account to the public on its direction.

PAGASA officials seem to have learned a lesson. In July, they earned the ire of the president for their "erroneous forecasting" at the height of Typhoon Basyang. While announcing that "Basyang" would make a landfall in Aurora, the storm instead ripped through Metro Manila, catching the inhabitants in the capital by surprise.

That debacle - which led to the public clamor for the government to modernize the weather bureau - prompted the president to fire chief weather forecaster Nathaniel dela Cruz. Since then PAGASA has been sidelined to the watchful eyes of the public during weather disturbances.

But the accurate weather bulletin was not only the reason for the minimal casualty during the onslaught of "Juan." Even before the typhoon could make a landfall, government agencies already rose to the occasion by pooling their resources in sending relief goods to areas that are going to be hit by the storm. 

During typhoons, it's unfair to blame only one agency for the deaths and destructions. PAGASA has always been criticized for its inability to display a "correct" bulletin. It has become the scapegoat when, in fact, its duty is only to inform the public of the path of the storm.

But many agencies, especially the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Disaster Coordinating Council, have been proven inefficient many times in the past. They tend to respond only when typhoons already left. That is not the way to act during calamities.

It's good the new administration has pushed the level of preparedness further up. Being prepared should not only revolve around distributing relief goods to typhoon victims. It should include a coordinative effort by agencies even before the calamity.