Saturday, February 25, 2012

UNISDR welcomes Typhoon Sendong post-mortem

Prevention Web via UNISDR: The Head of the UN's Disaster Risk Reduction Office, UNISDR, Margareta Wahlström, today congratulated three Philippines Senators for leading an in-depth, two-day post-mortem with local leaders into the devastating losses caused to Mindanao island by Typhoon Sendong in December.

She said: "The Mindanao Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction Priorities is a very honest and searching analysis of the man-made contributions to this disaster in which over 1,000 people lost their lives. It is very significant that this initiative has the support of three influential Senators, UNISDR's Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction, Loren Legarda, Aquilino Pimentel III and Teofisio Guingona III. I would like to thank them for their efforts.

"It is important now to focus on recovery and ensure that Mindanao builds back better and that we take this opportunity to avoid re-creating the risks exposed by Typhoon Sendong. The priority now is to take care of the 4,981 families who have been left homeless. I met many of them on my visit last month and their views must be taken on board when it comes to implementing the Mindanao Declaration.

"Essentially, this declaration contains an eight-point plan of action which is an endorsement for the passage of laws which, if successfully implemented, will establish a permanent, independent disaster management and risk reduction agency and promote cooperation between local governments on these issues."

Senator Legarda said: "Leaders have the capacity to protect our people and secure future generations. The important starting point is political commitment, and our measure for success is more disaster-resilient development investments and, fundamentally, better and greater quality of life for our long-suffering people."

The Mindanao Declaration expresses particular concern that "logging, mining, unsustainable agriculture, and other similar land-use activities increase the vulnerability of many ecosystems and communities in our island."...

Typhoon Sendong (also known as Cyclone Washi) in December, 2011

2 comments:

Phils Calamities said...

Nice post. Thanks for sharing. I hope that preventative measures can be put in place soon. One thing that can be done which costs nothing is each individual take responsibility for their garbage and put it where it belongs instead of throwing it all over the streets, rivers, and everywhere else.

Philippines Natural Disaster said...

Thank you very much for this great information. Let’s pray for the people who were victims by this tragedy. This is an unexpected happening; there are many people who are victims of this tragedy. We hope and pray that they cannot happen again. God be with us all.