House OKs Department of Disaster Resilience bill on 2nd reading

THE House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on second reading a bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) which President Rodrigo Duterte had pushed.

The lower chamber approved House Bill No. 8165 via viva voce or voice voting.

The bill will be up for third and final reading approval after three session days.

Leyte 1st District Rep. Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt-Romualdez, one of the principal authors of the bill, has welcomed the development, saying this would effectively reduce their vulnerability to natural hazards and bolster their resilience to the impact of national disasters and climate change.

“We can now look forward to the future with hope, knowing that the government is ready, better equipped and committed to exert its best effort to reduce the risks that come with natural disasters, to empower local communities to rise above the different vulnerabilities that surround them and to ensure that in the years to come, such a tragedy will never happen again,” she added in a statement.

Romualdez’s district was among the areas affected by the onslaught of super typhoon “Yolanda” on November 8, 2013.

Under the bill, the DDR would be the primary agency “responsible for leading, organizing, and managing the national effort to reduce disaster risk, prepare for and respond to disasters, recover and rehabilitate, and build forward better after the occurrence of disasters.”