MMDA reaching out

In times of misery and pain, we are all brothers.

This is probably the sentiment that moves the leadership of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to quickly send rescue and relief teams to areas visited by calamities in our country. The latest of such rapid response action was the dispatch of several MMDA teams to communities in the Samar provinces and in Leyte that were hardest hit by Typhoon Yolanda, considered the strongest and most devastating typhoon that ravaged the Philippines in all its recorded history.

Two days after the super typhoon wrought a wide swatch of destruction in its path, MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino led several teams to Tacloban and other areas in these provinces. From all accounts, MMDA is probably the first government agency to have responded immediately to the emergency situation.

The MMDA personnel are well trained in rescue operations and have the necessary expertise in extricating trapped people, clearing landslides and road blocks and extending emergency medical care.

Apart from relief goods, water and medicines, pragmatic experience have taught them beforehand to bring tools and materials needed to perform their tasks. These included heavy equipment, power tools, chainsaws, bolt cutters, and even generators to provide electricity since all power lines were down. They also brought trauma kits, body bags and their own K-9 dogs that are so indispensable in locating trapped survivors.

Chairman Tolentino said their standard operating procedures prescribe that all their teams should be self-contained. This means bringing along their own supply of food, water and other essentials so as not to put added strain on the scant resources in disaster areas.

 The MMDA teams had a big part in clearing the debris in Tacloban City and other areas, after which Tolentino brought in technical people to perform restoration and rehabilitation work. These were engineers, electricians, mechanics and trauma personnel. Overall, the agency fielded a total of 304 people from its central office.

Members of the MMDA rescue and relief teams received unsolicited praise from Fr. Gani Petilos, parish priest of the Sto. Niño Shrine in Tacloban City who called them “real heroes” for their quick response in helping mitigate the suffering of the typhoon victims.

After winding down their operations, the teams returned to Manila Sunday, Dec. 1. The MMDA personnel themselves were to be given stress debriefing to relieve them from the trauma and the heart-rending scenes and experiences they went through in their areas of assignment. This included handling cadavers that had lain unrecovered for days, while enduring the terrible stench of death.

Members of all the teams, together with their respective families, were honored in appropriate ceremonies at the MMDA head office Monday this week. They were also given four days leave with pay as a token of the agency’s appreciation for the selfless services they rendered to their fellow Filipinos at a time of great pain and misery.

Actually, this is not the first time that MMDA acted with dispatch to assist victims of disasters. After the 7.2 magnitude quake that rocked Bohol and Cebu last October 15, it also sent teams to Cebu and Bohol to help in search and rescue operations. The Bohol team was able to rescue 63 people, including 21 children, trapped by a landslide in the mountain village in Tanawan, Loon town.

 A live interview over ANC TV of MMDA’s Aldo Mayor, the team leader of the Tanawan rescue, was particularly gripping.

Mayor was giving an on-the-spot account of the 18-man team’s rescue effort. Using ropes tied end-to-end, they had to pluck the victims from a 200-meter deep ravine near the mountain where a single misstep could send a rescuer plunging down to possible death. They even had to improvise a hammock that they used to carry an elderly victim who suffered serious injuries from a big rock that rolled down the mountainside. 

Last October 12, the MMDA also sent a team to Jaen, Nueva Ecija to help victims of Typhoon Santi that flooded many towns of the province. A team was also dispatched to Subic, Zambales in late September which was also hit by another typhoon.

In all probability, reaching out to victims of disasters and calamities will henceforth be an integral part of MMDA’s policy. Which is as it should be. After all, in moments like these, we should truly be our brothers’ keepers.

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I received a number of reactions to my last column on Sen. Loren Legarda’s five-point plan on disaster prevention and preparedness. One is from Francis Joseph Bunagan, who writes:

“We have encountered numerous disasters in the past, not just from typhoons, but from other causes like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions etc. The Philippines is part of the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, where we are vulnerable to such occurencies.  We have the highest average number of typhoons, and yet every time disaster strikes, we still hear the phrase ‘we were not fully prepared for the scope of the disaster..blah, blah, blah...’. We had Mt. Pinatubo, the 7.7 magnitude earthquake, Ondoy, Sendong, Pablo, and the list goes on and on, and yet it seems all our preparations always fall short. History just keeps on repeating itself.

 â€œThat is why the billions lost to corruption hits especially hard, since all that could have gone to fund disaster prevention projects. Projects that involves people up to the barangay  or even purok level  to educate people on the disaster awareness, prevention and preparedness. These lost billions could greatly help in the rehabilitation of affected areas, to build homes, schools, livelihood programs and medical missions.

 â€œYolanda may be a portent of things to come, as the experts are saying that this may only be the first of super typhoons and that we should expect more of the same. If this is indeed true, then we really are in deep trouble. Unless we get our act together and leave politics out, and ensure that corruption does not rear its ugly head once more, then all we can do is just stand by and see history repeat itself over and over again.”

 The other is from Ben Lao, of Fort Worth, Texas.

“Thank you  for calling attention to Senator Legarda’s 5 Point Plan to make communities resilient, save lives, and prevent massive destruction of property.” If Senator Legarda’s Plan can be communicated throughout the entire country and embraced wholeheartedly by local government officials, human casualties and property destructions can be minimized should a similar natural calamity occur again in the future.

“In a country spread out over 7,107 islands sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and prone to natural disasters, intelligent preventive planning is certainly much more preferable and a must. I am writing to you (from Dallas-Fort Worth where I reside) because I have specific ideas relative to those points that may be used to supplement Senator Legarda’s Plan and can serve as a guideline for communities susceptible to natural calamities. I am wondering if you can help put me in touch with Senator Legarda’s office to see if she is interested to hear what I have to say.

“I have personally experienced the fury of typhoons when I was growing up in Sorsogon. My interest here is just to share what I learned from very notable professors and practitioners when I was doing my master of science in tropical architecture at Pratt Institute in New York many years back and what I learned when I was obtaining my master of architecture degree with a focus on Urban Design from Harvard University.”

 Ben can be reached at  [email protected]    

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