Invest in Real Resilience by Improving Science & Technology

The true perpetrator of disasters is a government that does not value the critical role of science and technology in disaster risk reduction management.

Editorial Cartoon by Vince Paraunda

The Philippines is a country that is greatly prone to disasters. Based on a report by the United Nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) released last October 13, 2020 or International Disaster Risk Reduction Day, the Philippines ranks 4th among the list of countries that experienced the most number of disasters worldwide where 304 disastrous events in the country affected about 149 million Filipinos in the last 20 years. The Philippines is also the 9th riskiest country according to the World Risk Index 2020.

In this coming year, it will not be a surprise when these rankings go up as a consequence of the recent onslaught of Typhoon Rolly (Goni) and Typhoon Ulysses (Vamco), most notably, which killed dozens and displaced millions of Filipinos. It was reported by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRMMC) that the death toll of Typhoon Rolly was 25, with 399 injured and 6 missing people, while that of Typhoon Ulysses stood at 73, as of November 21, 2020, with 68 injured, and 19 missing people across all affected areas.

Considering that the Philippines has been identified as extremely disaster-prone and include the fact that we have been suffering from an endless number of typhoons for many years already, it is questionable how until now our country has not yet developed and implemented effective policies, programs, and projects for minimizing disaster risk. It is as if we are replaying the same tape all over again, and not learning from past disasters to lessen the damages to future events. Being one of the riskiest countries that is expected to experience more deadly disasters, aren’t we supposed to give disaster risk reduction the highest degree of importance?

There are no “natural disasters”

In order to clearly identify the root cause of the issue at hand, it must first be emphasized that there are no natural disasters. Simply put, we should not entirely blame nature for the intensity of the disasters we experience unlike our president. We must understand that there are three elements that contribute to disaster impacts: hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. The only natural element among the three is hazard, such as typhoons, earthquakes, and pandemics, which occur more or less frequently with a greater or lesser magnitude. Meanwhile, the other two elements (exposure and vulnerability) can almost absolutely be influenced by our decisions.

As highlighted, there are no natural disasters. While it is natural to experience typhoons every once in a while, the impact it brings in the form of flooding can be minimized or prevented. For example, the mobile flood walls of an Austrian town ensures the safety of its people when flooding occurs. The mere existence of this infrastructure is evidence that we can mitigate disasters too with the right measures and policies. Therefore, disasters are products of our decisions, more particularly, by the choices of our public officials who lead over us. Rightfully, our authorities must include disaster risk reduction management in their main priorities and they must invest in real resilience.

The true perpetrator of disasters

If our government truly cares for us citizens, then they will take disasters seriously and will do everything in their power to minimize and mitigate hazardous events. Unfortunately, what we we have is an incompetent and sleepy criminal sitting comfortably on figuratively and literally the highest seat as he conducts “aerial inspection” of affected areas.

The catastrophic level disaster of Typhoon Rolly and Ulysses is an aftermath of our government’s risk-blind development lenses mixed with incompetence, misplaced priorities and abuse of power. If the government had been truly “ready” for the impact of the typhoons as they claim to be, then the whole nation would not have been caught by surprise in the middle of the night by the sudden rush of flood water that consumed the whole house and livelihood of our fellow citizens in several regions in the country. If enough preparations were already planned and coordinated, our local governments would not have made excuses that they were “blindsided” by the massive flooding after the wrath of Ulysses. If only the biggest media network in the country were not shut down, then the residents would have been properly informed by the typhoon warnings before the disaster—not while it’s happening—so that they could have evacuated early and not get stuck at their roofs desperately calling for help and rescue.

Undoubtedly, our authorities have failed to prepare enough contingency and emergency plans. They also failed to respond efficiently that has caused additional suffering to Typhoon Ulysses victims. Therefore, it is the government, not nature, that perpetrated this disaster.

Filipinos are not truly disaster resilient

Among all the incompetent responses by our government towards the crisis, perhaps the most infuriating one would be their romanticization of a false sense of resilience by the Filipinos. Resilience is not about people smiling while facing the effects of deadly hazards. More importantly, resilience is not about leaving people to bounce back on their own only for them to be impacted again by the same or much worse disasters just like what happened to Marikina which was already massively hit by Typhoon Ondoy flood in 2013 then was again attacked by Typhoon Ulysses flood recently.

Being truly disaster resilient entails that individuals, communities, organizations, and states exposed to hazards are able to resist, absorb, accommodate to, recover, and learn from past disasters and reduce their risks to future ones in a timely and efficient manner without compromising long-term prospects as described by UNDRR. Real resilience focuses on disaster reduction, prevention, and mitigation. Investing on real resilience means investing on the correct projects that will significantly reduce risks and damages of the hazards when they strike.

Disaster risk reduction projects will be feasible if science and technologies related to natural hazards were properly applied. The extent of their implementation will only be effective if government officials at all levels have the political will to do so. Thus, we cannot call Filipinos truly resilient because our government continues to neglect the crucial role of science and technology in preventing disasters.

Improving S&T is key to mitigate disasters

Prior to the fury of Typhoon Ulysses, it is common knowledge that our government disregards the vital role of S&T and has little to no care for the environment. Aside from having multiple instances of our authorities refusing to listen to our scientists and experts when addressing environmental issues, such as the detrimental Manila bay dolomite sand, our Filipino scientists has also been inappropriately labelled by our officials, themselves with remarks like “bayaran”, which may cloud the judgement of the public, and in turn, may lessen the public’s trust to science. To make matters worse, the national government has slashed the 2021 budget for the research and development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) by Php 76 million, leaving only 12 research proposals capable of being funded out of 900 projects next year. Additionally, let us not forget the defunding of Project NOAH, a reliable and comprehensive tool that helped our nation promptly prepare for natural hazards.

All these cases of neglect reflect the prominent influence of our leaders’ political will to mitigate disasters, and how harmful and impactful their unwillingness is to the people. The severity of the damages brought by Typhoon Ulysses may have been minimized if only the government properly prepared for the typhoon and valued the S&T sector. Flipino residents living by high-risk areas would have been able to promptly evacuate if only we had accurate and early warning systems and proper information dissemination. The damages to our buildings would have been reduced if only construction of resilient infrastructures were prioritized. The nation would not be suffering at this extent if only the government listened to our scientists and incorporated the suggestions of our experts in implementing better public policies for the reduction, prevention, and mitigation of risks from natural hazards.

From whatever angle we look at it, we must hold the government responsible for their wrong and selfish decisions that resulted in millions of Filipinos displaced by the typhoons. It is high time to raise and intensify our voices for the sleeping crocodile and his cronies to start acting competently and to create concrete plans with tangible results. If they are not qualified as they have already shown, stepping down would be the best option to finally end the agony of the Filipino people.

Let us not use nature as a scapegoat for disasters. Our government is the true perpetrator that must be held accountable for their wrong decisions and misplaced priorities for the catastrophic disasters we continue to experience. Once and for all, our officials must stop glorifying their false notion of Filipino resilience. Instead, they should invest in real resilience by improving our country’s science and technologies in disaster risk reduction.