Palace underscores need for preparedness for natural disasters following Japan quake
The cooperation between the government and the public is the key to minimizing the effects of natural disasters as shown by the country’s response to a tsunami alert following an earthquake in Japan, according to a Palace spokesperson.
“We saw yesterday that with everyone helping one another we can immediately gather information [to respond to calamities],” Deputy presidential spokesperson Abegail Valte said in a radio interview over dzRB (Radyo ng Bayan).
Although the government as well as the public responded well to the tsunami alert, Valte said there are a lot of things to be learned and there’s still room for improvement to fine tune the country’s response to natural calamities like tsunamis.
She added that even President Aquino was still in Singapore when the disaster happened on Friday, the chief executive successfully organized government agencies and local government units to respond to the tsunami alert.
“But again, like what the Phivolcs is saying our families and household shouldn’t rely solely on the government. We as citizens of our communities, members of our own families must do the necessary preparations for calamities like this,” she said.
Valte also acknowledged the importance of conducting drills in the metropolis to prepare the public for possible devastation brought about by earthquakes and fires.
“Frequent drills are really helpful for us. But again we will need the cooperation of the employers, schools and the owners of high-rise buildings. Usually drills are being conducted for the residence of tall buildings. I think after our experience yesterday, it wouldn’t be difficult for us to encourage people to have regular earthquake or fire safety drills,” Valte said.
With regards to the safety of buildings in Metro Manila, Valte said she hopes local government units will do their jobs in inspecting buildings in their jurisdictions to know if they can withstand strong quakes.
She also advised the public to cooperate with local authorities if they observe some defects in their residential units, particularly in high-rise structures, so that government engineers could do the assessments.
Asked by one listener how the government will modernize its disaster monitoring capability, Valte said the government has very limited resources at this time but she said she hopes they can get modernization budget in the future.
“We know that we have a limited budget but Secretary Mario Montejo was able to turn around the performance of PAGASA without spending too much on equipment. But hopefully we can get funds so that we can update our equipment,” she said. (PCOO)
Maintain caution when travelling by sea, Palace says
Although alert signals have been completely removed after Friday’s magnitude 8.9 quake in Japan that sent tsunami waves to the Philippines, Malacanang continued to warn seafarers and fishermen to be cautious. So far, no casualties have been reported from the eastern seaboard of the country and the Palace said it hopes it will stay this way.
This was the message of Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte in an interview with Radyo ng Bayan on Saturday morning even as she said that the palace keeps coordinating and getting updates from the Philippine embassy and consular offices in different parts of Japan, where over 1,000 have reportedly been killed by the deadly tsunami.
She said the Department of Foreign Affairs continues to provide updates on the Filipino workers based in Japan through the embassy in Tokyo and the consulate in Osaka, which have also provided the Filipino communities in Japan with hotlines they can contact in case of more emergencies.
“I understand that our countrymen have also set up accounts in the internet, as the first line of real time communication on their conditions,” Valte said citing the latest report from the embassy.
A texted comment from a listener asked the government to modernize the forecasting equipment of the weather bureau and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology for better preparation and disaster response to mitigate losses and casualties.
Valte said the Aquino administration hopes to be able to raise the funds for such modernization and that as far as the weather bureau is concerned, despite limited resources, it was able to turn around its forecasting deficiencies and now provides more accurate information and projection on the path of storms giving local governments more time to prepare.
Valte said the Coast Guard keeps warning seafarers and fishermen to exercise extra caution, and if possible not to take to the sea until it is safe and quiet.
She said coastal communities must continue to be alert and always monitor the movement of the waves even after the alert levels have been removed. (PCOO)
