An independent body to study typhoon lapses

Perhaps because Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas announced last week that "The worst is over," it sort of sent a signal to the international relief community to wind down their operations and start packing to go home. We saw the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) which was one of the quick responders to this disaster leave their tents and equipment and left for Israel. Now the South Koreans have also started to pack up and leave. So too with the South African who helped the town of Abuyog, Leyte, who have packed up and left.

Honestly, I feel sad that the international community had to leave this early, especially when there is still so much to do even if it's already 20-days since the Super Typhoon "Yolanda" struck Central Visayas. I guess it is because we could really count on the international relief groups for their professionalism in doing their work. I submit that we never expected the international community to stay for a month. But then, the food aid that they immediately responded to our stricken survivors came at the right time. But now we have to go to the next phase of this work… the rebuilding part.

From the reports of my son Capt. JV Avila who is with the Swiss Humanitarian Aid group, they are now giving out roofing materials, 10 G.I. sheets per family or household, complete with pliers, hammer, nails, handsaws and ropes. Certainly these items would be a big boost to those families whose homes were destroyed by the typhoon. As we've pointed out in our previous columns, the Swiss have targeted 10,000 families for this type of aid to put a roof over their heads.

While we are eternally grateful to the Swiss for their generosity, allow me to share with our readers that this kind of help can only bring those beneficiaries back to the state that they had before the super typhoon struck us. This means, if by chance (and the possibility is quite high) we'd get hit by another super typhoon, those roofing materials will once again get blown away and then we shall be repeating the process over and over again.

At this point, let us put a challenge to our local architects to come up with a sturdy frame for a house that could withstand super typhoons. Of course, we know enough that if we used cement materials and shaped it like an igloo or an egg, it would certainly withstand super typhoons. But it all depends on the kind of materials that the majority of our poor people can afford. If you recall, former Cebu Governor Emilio "Lito" Osmeña had a house built like an inverted egg up in Busay, but he used light materials that eventually broke up and the whole thing fell down.

Perhaps the Association of Architects could come up with a contest as to which design would be the most suitable… which should also be cost effective. Of course for the well-heeled, there is no stopping them from rebuilding their homes to stronger specifications. Thankfully here in Cebu, when the Oct.15th earthquake struck, only those buildings that were not built to standard specifications fell into the ground. The majority of our buildings withstood the 7.2-magnitude earthquake. But what if we get an 8.9? Hmmm.

Meanwhile, I read that news report from the Philippine Star that said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) together with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) upon the instructions of no less than Pres. Benigno "PNoy" Aquino will look at the possible lapses on the preparedness by the government when super typhoon Yolanda struck.

Again let me caution these two agencies belonging to the Office of the President under the executive branch of the government that many Filipinos blamed for their unpreparedness. If you ask me, this is a step in the wrong direction because I would like to believe that the heads of these two agencies are subservient to the President… and they would never point to the Office of the President for any lapses in their preparation for the coming typhoon. What could even be further disturbing is when these two government agencies would only point the blame on the local government unit (LGU) which no less than Pres. PNoy himself has already blamed in public.

Let me say it loud and clear, what we need right now is for an independent group of well-meaning citizens to conduct a thorough investigation as to where these lapses occurred and perhaps they could even come up with suggestions on how to be better prepared in the future. If this comes from the DOJ or DOST… it may just be a whitewash investigation.

Whether they like it or not, a great majority of the Filipino people believe that super typhoon Yolanda exposed the incompetence of the Aquino government and worse of all, we never heard any high official from Malacañang apologize to the Filipino people for those serious lapses that led to the deaths of thousands of our people. So please, don't even try to hide those lapses by tapping government agencies subservient to the President.

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