NDRRMC chief: A paradigm shift needed in dealing with disasters

Hazards, says National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council executive director Alexander Pama, only become disasters when people are not prepared.

In a lecture on Nov. 5, Pama emphasized that a shift to a more proactive stance would be much more beneficial than simply reacting when it comes to disaster risk management.

“A significant but non-institutional factor that contributes to our vulnerability to disasters is the evident mindset and culture of most Filipinos in dealing with disasters,” he added. “As the saying goes, and I quote, 'Ang pinoy, ‘di gagalaw ‘yan hangga't di napuputukan na.’”

It is this mindset that poses one of the challenges that NDRRMC faces.

According to Pama, “people have yet to accept that, first and foremost, they are responsible for their own personal well-being in times of disasters. There is a need to change the mindset that you as an individual will not be a victim of disasters.”

To illustrate his point, Pama cited an instance where during an earthquake drill, people complained about the traffic jam that it caused instead of focusing on why the drill was being conducted in the first place.

Pama stressed that Filipinos need to recognize that the NDRRMC is not “a magic wand that the government can wave” to solve the problems the country faces when it comes to disasters both natural and man-made.

Institutional Challenges

Pama's lecture — entitled Confronting Disasters: Changing Paradigms —is part of the Jaime V. Ongpin Annual Memorial Lecture on Public Service in Business and Government series.

The Philippine government has already made this paradigm shift with Republic Act 10121 — the law that created the NDRRMC — under which the government has four thematic areas of focus: prevention and mitigation, disaster preparedness, response, and recovery and rehabilitation.

Each thematic area is headed by a different department.

Pama claimed that this move to a proactive method of dealing with disasters has already yielded visible results, citing that the Philippines suffered relatively fewer casualties from typhoons Glenda and Mario in 2014 compared to typhoons Ondoy and Milenyo, which were of similar strength. — JDS, GMA News