MANILA, Philippines—United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special representative on disaster risk reduction has commended the Philippine government and church and civil society groups in Northern Mindanao for their “very good and prompt response” to the Dec. 17 flash floods that devastated parts of the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.
Margareta Wahlstrom, head of the Geneva-based UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, also praised the nongovernment organizations’ plan of action for the survivors of the disaster that left more than 1,200 people dead and many others injured and missing. “Clearly, you have done very impressive work,” she said.
Wahlstrom visited the flood-hit areas in the two cities on Jan. 24-27 and met with local officials to “discuss ways to improve the resilience of their communities to similar disasters in the future.”
She also called for increased government funding for disaster risk reduction and the establishment of a comprehensive land use policy to better protect communities against increasing and more severe climate-related hazards.
In an interview with the Inquirer, Wahlstrom commended the NGOs in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan for working closely with government agencies such as the social welfare and health departments, as well as UN-attached agencies like the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).
She described the NGOs as “very interesting models,” saying that from feedback and her own observation, their response to the disaster had been “very good.”
No reason for criticism
Wahlstrom said “everyone was in place” in the aftermath of Tropical Storm “Sendong.”
“Both the national government and the voluntary community started doing things, trying to help people, putting up [evacuation] camps promptly. I don’t think there is any reason to leverage criticism,” she said.
Wahlstrom called on disaster victims to be patient, pointing out that “it takes time to build several thousand houses.”
She said that “the government promised six months” to build sufficient housing for displaced families, and that she thought the plan was “feasible.”
“But it requires a lot of purpose and determination,” Wahlstrom said. “I really hope they would achieve it. I have seen it happening with enormous political support, enormous purpose, lots of resources … It can be done.”
She also said she was happy and impressed to know that “there are so many support groups that want to help.”
‘Fantastic platform’
Earlier in a meeting with church and civil society groups at the Cagayan de Oro residence of Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, Wahlstrom observed that “everyone has tried their best to overcome the early chaos and frustrations” of dealing with the disaster.
“That’s a fantastic platform to continue … I was very impressed by the challenges and your plan of action. This idea that you’re never affected by disasters, actually [it’s] evidence that no one saw these as disasters because they’re tough enough,” she said.
The positive side
Wahlstrom also cited the NGOs for being “an example of self-organizing communities working with local governments.”
She said she hoped to engage everyone in “that image of local action that will not give up.”
“As you said, the challenge now is how to plan the future,” she said.
Asked if she had a message to the flood survivors, Wahlstrom said she was “touched” by one Mrs. Valdez who lost four family members on Dec. 17:
“She was describing to people what had happened to her family. She was speaking very intensely. She was crying, of course. So many people were crying as well. And then she said something that made people laugh: ‘But my husband is alive!’”
Wahlstrom lauded “the capacity of a person to look at the positive side of things.”
“I think what we’ve seen in the 40th day of the mourning period is the celebration of the ability to survive as a community,” she said. “The solidarity that people can continue to show each other is probably the most important message.”
Politicians as role models
To local politicians, the UN official had this to say: “Do not miss this opportunity to put into practice the knowledge, the technology and the planning that we know can help create more resilience and safer communities.
“Work with the civil society, work with science organizations. Everyone wants to do their piece.”
Wahlstrom cited the common observation “that politicians will only focus on giving relief goods because then they can get reelected.”
“But there must be politicians who also get reelected on the basis of saying, ‘I’ll keep my community safe,’ … and who can be looked at as role models. We found some of them in the Philippines, but we also found others elsewhere in the world. We need to shift the balance. We need to have a majority on that side,” she said.
Protect what you have
Wahlstrom acknowledged that disaster risk reduction had yet to gain currency in many countries, including the Philippines.
“I know that the word ‘disaster’ has a negative sound…” she said, adding:
“Instead, we are trying to talk about strengthening the resilience of society and protecting development investments. Rather than looking at just the destructive element of disasters, look at what you need to strengthen in order to protect what you have—people’s lives, economic and social assets. That’s probably the more practical and reasonable way to talk about it.”
Wahlstrom met briefly with President Aquino last Wednesday, during the launch of the state housing program for flood victims in Sta. Elena, Iligan.
Aquino ‘very engaged’
But while the conversation was “very brief,” she said, “I could see that [the President] was very engaged in many of the details of the houses” that would be built in the relocation site for flood survivors.
She expressed hope that she would “get another opportunity to talk with the President, more in-depth.”
“He has the same perspective [as ours]—that we have to minimize the impact of future floods and storms,” she said.
Wahlstrom was scheduled to meet with Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Saturday before flying to Jakarta.