It’s enough to be alarmed – in a good way.
A self-test by local government staff who attended the two-day workshop on disaster risk reduction and mitigation in Cebu showed that no town or city in Central Visayas is ready to respond or ease the impact of massive flooding if it occurred in their area.
About 60 percent of 136 cities and towns in Central Visayas have their own disaster risk reduction and management office (DRRM).
Fewer still have DRRM officers or a staff to do the job.
An even smaller number have maps to identify barangays with flood-prone areas, formed an emergency response team or have rainwater gauges and evacuation alert systems.
Admitting we don’t know much is a good start really, if only to prod real action.
In a country visited by 18 to 20 typhoons a year, we should be experts by now in dealing with stormy weather and flooding.
But the sad fact is that we are woefully unprepared. Lack of resources is not always the culprit, but complacency and the sluggish pace of getting organized is.
The key is finding the right people, not the office equipment.
“It’s easy to set up a DRRM office but difficult to appoint an officer,” said one official at the workshop.
He’s right, but do local governments know how to search for and recognize the right candidates?
After Yolanda howled through the Visayas, one of the hottest jobs now, but with a woefully limited stable of talent to choose from, is a DRRM officer with experience.
In Cebu, private foundations and government entities have seen the need to have a full-time overseer to handle this relatively new occupation.
Check the want ads in national dailies and online job searches, where international humanitarian groups cast their nets for project staff to fill their storm recovery and DRRM programs. (Many postings are in Tacloban City and Eastern Visayas, which means the ability to speak Bisaya or Waray is an advantage.)
Think of what kind of mind and heart is needed to manage the impact of a catastrophe before it happens, during and after.
The post is not the domain of engineers, although it requires dealing with technical language and science. Neither is it an exclusive zone for social workers or emergency responders, although the job requires the compassion and stamina of one.
People skills are just as important as managerial talents, including the ability to plan and analyze.
There’s a volume of paperwork to deal with and the need to keep good rapport with political leaders, then deal with exasperating bureaucracy and institutional funders, who want detailed audited reports.
It’s not an office swivel-chair job at all.
This needs someone who is comfortable on the field, where immersing in a slum or an impoverished farm community provides the best insights.
An ideal DRRM officer also displays calm leadership that can organize in the midst of chaos. This really is a complex post.
In Cebu, typhoon Yolanda showed there were volunteers who could actually do some or all of these functions, but would they consider making this role of public service a day job?
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