16 YEARS AFTER 1990 QUAKE

DAGUPAN City, devastated by a strong 7.7 magnitude in Richter scale earthquake in 1990, appears to be “one of the most prepared among the most disaster-prone cities of Pangasinan”.

This was the observation of the assistant regional director of the Office of Civil Defense, Melchito Castro, during the observance of Disaster Preparedness Consciousness Month and the Dagupan City Disaster Preparedness Day celebration held at the city plaza here Tuesday.

“We have always referred to the experiences of Dagupan City, attaining almost zero casualties every time there is a disaster,” Castro said.

He credited the successful efforts of the city government in minimizing the damages by typhoon Florita to the efficiency of the early warning system set into action by the weather bureau, the local disaster coordinating council and the community.

In a diagnostic study of the vulnerability of countries to disaster conducted by the Center for Research and Epidemiology on Disasters in Brussels, Belgium, the Philippines emerged as the most disaster-prone country in the world from 1990 to 2000.

He said the country use dot incur an average of P15 billion worth of damage to infrastructure and properties annually due to disasters. This is equivalent to an average of 0.7 percent of the country’s annual gross domestic product, a rate that could create a major setback in the country’s socio-economic development.

He urged Dagupeños “to start disaster preparedness at home because disaster preparedness is an individual and family responsibility”.

Meanwhile, Environment Undersecretary Manuel Gerochi said that the Philippines is situated in the Pacific Ring of Fire, rendering Filipinos susceptible to earthquakes and volcanic eruption and is so located in the typhoon belt that 19 to 21 tropical cyclones devastate the Philippines every year.

“But being prone to natural disaster is not our sole distinction. We also hold the unsavory reputation of being the site of man-made disasters with Herculean proportions,” Gerochi said.

He cited the July 12, 2000 incident where nearly 500 scavengers were buried  alive under tons of garbage in Payatas, the March 18, 1996 Ozone Disco fire  in Quezon City where 150 people died and 90 others seriously injured, the  Dec. 1987 sinking of inter-island ship, Doña Paz where some 4, 341 people  died.

He congratulated the city government for keeping a high state of readiness and efforts to inculcate disaster awareness among the people of Dagupan City and Pangasinan. – EVA

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments