THE damages wrought by Ondoy and “Pepeng—which are only two of over 20 other typhoons that weathermen forecast to visit the Philippines this year—have already reached staggering proportions.

The twin calamities left in their wake more than 700 people dead, over 600,000 affected by massive flooding, and more than P20 billion worth of agricultural crops and facilities and government infrastructure destroyed. The estimate of the damage, which is likely to increase, does not even include homes and other private properties that were inundated.

Has anybody calculated the lost income of people who could not work and the businesses that were shut down because of the floods? How about the farmers and their families who lost their crops, which were planted using loans to buy fertilizers, pesticides and seeds?

For all of them, hunger is no longer a specter in the future. It is a reality that they have begun to suffer, while thinking about how they can borrow again and plant again and wait for a new harvest, the proceeds of which will not even be enough to pay for the ever-deepening debt.

All this wrought by the twin disasters. By the way, Ondoy—which was not even a typhoon, but a tropical storm—packed less stronger winds than full-fledged typhoons, and yet it brought excessive amounts of rain.

These twin disasters bring me to talk about two things, both glaring defects in our system and attitude in coping with natural calamities.

We all know that the Philippines is located right in the path of typhoons that are born in the Western Pacific. It is also part of the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, where volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are a routine part of life. We can expect, more or less, what catastrophes or calamities could hit us.

My first point is the lack of preparedness. The National Disaster Coordinating Council should have been conducting regular drills—just like the fire drills conducted in schools every summer—so that rescue teams are trained well and could be expected to do a better job saving lives and helping victims, and concerned agencies are prepared for quick responses.

Just as we have an audit season in business, we should also have a practice season in handling disasters, so when something happens, we would know what to do.

My second point is our disaster-detection equipment should be state-of-the-art, and the most modern. This should be the exception to austerity or cost-cutting measures even when the government is suffering from fiscal deficits, because lives, not just property, are at stake.

We have to invest more on equipment, facilities and technology to predict and cope with natural calamities than countries that are not on the path of typhoons and far from the Rim of Fire.

I was disturbed when I read a newspaper report that Dr. Susan Espinueva, head of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (Pagasa) flood- forecasting branch, said the agency did not have instruments to estimate rain volume. She said Pagasa relied only on satellite images because it did not have radar facilities in the areas affected by Ondoy and Pepeng.

Other reports said the weather bureau had been seeking at least five modern Doppler radars, which are capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to intensity of the precipitation, which, in turn, can be used to determine the structure of storms and their potential to cause severe weather. This equipment could have predicted the intensity and severity of those twin storms.

During a recent forum at the University of the Philippines, Guillermo Tabios, head of the National Hydraulics Research Center, called for a comprehensive, up-to-date flood forecasting and rainfall prediction so that both disaster-management officials and residents would have ample time to prepare.

In particular, he proposed the retrofitting of flood-control infrastructure such as riverworks, dikes, detention ponds and pumping stations.

During the same forum, engineer Sophia Santiago of the Department of Public Works and Highways noted that aside from the excessive rainfall brought by Ondoy, infrastructure concerns like clogged drainage contributed to the flooding.

Santiago noted that 70 percent of the drainage system constructed in 1975 was already silted and clogged up because of indiscriminate throwing of garbage. She also criticized how waterways in some subdivisions were filled up and replaced with inadequate pipes, which could not properly handle water flow.

When disaster does strike, we should have ample, properly stored, well-preserved relief items, including food and medicines.

How much does preparedness cost? Disaster drills are cheap, but I agree that acquiring disaster-detection equipment, as well as rescue equipment (like all-weather rescue helicopters), will require a lot of money.

On the other hand, how much will we spend, and how will it take us to repair the damages caused by Ondoy and Pepeng to help people back on their feet, and to put the economy on the growth track? Remember, we only grew by 1 percent during the first semester, dangerously close to a zero growth.

The government has called for an international pledging session to raise cash for reconstruction. It is also planning to borrow P50 billion. It is a given that if the worth of the damage stopped at P20 billion, the cost of recovering from that damage will be a lot more than P20 billion.

Finally, no amount of money will ever bring back the lives of fathers, mothers and children that were lost—many of whom might not even be found from where the floodwaters and the landslides buried them.

But we can spend time and money to prepare our disaster-prone country and people when the next Ondoy or Pepeng strikes. Then the deaths caused by these twin disasters would not have been in vain.

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