Creation of disaster resilience dept sought
A House leader appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to certify as urgent House Bill 5989 or an act creating the Department of Disaster Resilience.
House Committee on Disaster Resilience chairperson and Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres Gomez stressed the need to have the department in order to improve the country’s preparedness to calamities.
The bill proposing the creation of a Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) was approved and transmitted to the Senate last September 2020.
Torres-Gomez, one of the principal sponsors, highlighted the importance of having a single agency and a clear system of responsibility for disaster preparedness and response in all levels of the government.
“In 2020, we experienced how disaster incidences ran their own course regardless of the pandemic,” he said.
“The total damages, just from the string of typhoons in the fourth quarter of last year, reached about P40 billion. We need to raise our game in disaster management and build national resilience by establishing a full-fledged department,” she added.
The lady solon added that the department is needed as the country will always be on the losing end in the face of persistent extreme weather occurrences and destructive geologic events.
Torres-Gomez stressed that the creation of the proposed DDR would ensure a more efficient, coordinated, and complete system of disaster management, and thus, mitigate extensive damage to lives and properties.
She also emphasized the importance of an integrated approach to all aspects of disaster management, from building resilience, to response and rehabilitation, as part of a sound post-COVID strategy for the country.
The House of Representatives approved on third and final reading in September last year its version of the measure proposing the creation of the DDR even as the government struggled to deal with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
