REACHING OUT TO EVERYONE. Gov. Arthur Yap (left, wearing a cap and a face mask) talks to typhoon victims of Ubay town. The governor personally visited the Ubay residents especially those with severely-damaged houses and listened to them as they told him their harrowing experience when typhoon Odette unleashed her fury on the evening of December 16, 2021 until early dawn of the 17th. The governor also wanted to know their needs so they could be helped out immediately and be given back their normal way of life with food on the table, roof above their heads and the needed strength amidst the pain as a result of the destruction. In all his visits to the different towns, the governor made sure that financial and material aid were distributed to the affected families. Photo courtesy of PRIMER.
In order to prepare for the impact of future calamities that will affect Bohol, Gov. Arthur Yap bared that he is planning to have a resilience summit slated sometime in March 2022.
He bared the plan to have a summit to chart resilience plans of the province to mitigate the impact of calamities such as strong typhoons or earthquake during the regular press conference at the Capitol on Jan. 7, 2022.
Bohol is no stranger to calamities as it experienced a strong earthquake in 2013 and late last year, the province experienced the wrath of typhoon Odette which rendered thousands of families homeless with at least 111 people dead.
The governor said that it is time to invite relevant government agencies, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) and other multilateral organizations in a summit to map out strategies in order to make Bohol resilient to the impact of calamities.
“Moving forward, I was discussing this with Vice Gov. Rene, panahon nga naa tay iduso nga resilience legislation sa Sangguniang Panlalawigan, redesigning our construction in the province and providing resilience centers, taking to task mayors to ensure nga di na nato tugutan ang mga no-build zones. Kinahanglan nga respetuhon nato ang no-build zones,” the governor quipped.
Yap also said that there is a need to have a plan on how to provide livelihood to those who will be displaced from their homes which have been identified to be located in no-build zones.
The governor bared that the summit will also be inviting representatives from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
He revealed that he has tracked the number of typhoons that visited the Philippines in the last 21 years and said that there were 19 typhoons that can be classified as strong and destructive. These typhoons include typhoon Yolanda in 2013 and Odette in 2021.
Moreover, he said that the total death toll arising from the 19 destructive typhoons is pegged at 18,000 and caused damage totalling P400 billion.
The governor said that it is time to think about resilience after a disaster as the country is among the most affected by the climate change.
“Ingon nila nga ang atong nasud is one of the most affected nga nasud sa tibook kalibutan tungod sa climate change,” Yap shared this information during the press conference at the Capitol lobby last Friday, Jan. 7, 2022.
Yap said that if the trend continues that every other year there is a devastating typhoon that will hit the country, then there is always a threat that Bohol might be impacted just like what happened last Dec. 16, 2021.
With the threat of a super typhoon visiting Bohol again in the future, the provincial government should be crafting plans to mitigate the impact of another disaster, the governor explained.