Legarda bats for disaster-resilient schools

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Loren Legarda on Monday called on the government and the private sector to ensure that schools in the country are resilient and safe from natural disasters.

"It is important to make our schools disaster-resilient to keep our children, who are most vulnerable to disasters, out of harm's way when natural hazards strike. Aside from being a shelter for children, schools are critical public infrastructures, especially in times of disaster when victims need emergency refuge. Therefore, schools must be able to withstand earthquakes, typhoons and other natural hazards," she said.

Legarda, the United Nations (UN) Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Asia Pacific made the call ahead of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Department of Education and her office's launch of 'The Philippines as a Leader Country of the UN Global Programme on Safe Schools Towards the 2015 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.'

Legarda said the global program invites citizens to join in the process of making schoos disaster-resilient by assessing the safety of schools in their communities. This is done by ensuring the structural integrity of buildings and making sure that staff are prepared in cases of natural disasters. A crowd-sourced hazard-and-risk mapping of schools will be done to assess schools in the country.

"Safe schools are essential to ensuring that our children are safe from disasters and injuries and thus beneficial to their general health and development. The government must fortify and enhance the structural integrity of public schools, while the private education sector should be encouraged to do the same," Legarda said.