President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is looking at the combination of luck and government’s disaster preparedness for the country to sustain minimal damages and casualties after Typhoon Karding’s onslaught.
On Monday, Sept. 26, Marcos presided over a briefing with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and government officials to assess the situation in affected areas.
In its 8 a.m. report, NDRRMC said some 850 families or 3,097 people have been so far affected by the super typhoon in many parts of Luzon.
The agency also reported that as of the time of the briefing, there were no casualties yet caused by Karding.
“I think we may have gotten lucky at least this time, a little bit. But I think it’s clear from what we did these last two days is that very, very important is preparation,” Marcos said during the NDRMMC briefing.
The President also noted the government approach in preparing early for natural calamities which have produced better outcome.
“I think this is a good illustration of how that (preparation) can really help. So, that’s the approach we will take always,” he said.
During the same briefing, Local Government and Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos reported that at least 19,000 families have been preemptively evacuated due to the typhoon.
READ: Typhoon Karding victims to get cash aid, but not right now—Marcos
Marcos heaped praises on the local government units (LGUs) for doing their job on ensuring their constituents’ safety.
“The LGUs did a good job na explaining what the situation was, what needs to be done, anong plano (what was the plan),” he stated.
“It comes back down to coordination...‘Yung preemptive evacuation kaya naging successful ‘yan dahil ka-partner natin nang mabuti ‘yung LGU (The preemptive evacuation became successful because we are in partnership with the LGUs),” Marcos added.
While Marcos credited the government officials, he assured the public that they will not “stand down” until most evacuated families returned to their homes.
“It’s not yet over. Hindi pa tayo mag-(We will not) stand down... I think the point that we can say we can stand down is when the majority of our evacuees are already back home,” he said.
“Get people out of the areas of danger. Put all of your assets that you’re going to use pagka mag-rescue (when conducting rescues), para mag-(for) relief, put them in place as much as possible...It’s really in the preparation,” he told heads of government agencies.