Philippines: Hospital learns lessons from Ketsana storm

The article relates the story of a hospital that was overwhelmed when tropical storm Ketsana hit Manila on 26 September 2009. Much of the hospital staff had been also affected. The hospital is now running again, and efforts are made to make hospitals safer from disasters.

Extract:
“Renaud Meyer, country director for the UN Development Programme in the Philippines, said the typhoons last year exposed vulnerabilities in the country, but at the same time taught valuable lessons.

“Events like Parma and Ketsana have significantly raised awareness on these gaps like never before and are changing mindsets,” Meyer told IRIN. “A major indicator is more demand from local government units, for example, [for] appropriate disaster risk reduction/climate change adaptation options.”

The government has earmarked about 852 million pesos (US$19.3 million) for repairs to 19 major state hospitals and thousands of primary school classrooms damaged by the floods, according to the government’s national reconstruction commission.

Reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts would have to focus on making structures stronger in withstanding natural disasters, said Glenn Rabonza, chief of Manila’s Office of Civil Defence.

“There is an ongoing effort now to make critical infrastructures risk and disaster free, as part of our commitment to the UN’s campaign to make schools and hospitals safe,” Rabonza told IRIN.

“We have also asked line agencies to make emergency drills a regular fixture in all government buildings, while schools are told to stock up on emergency kits,” he said.”

To read the full article:
http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/news/v.php?id=13660&a=email
or
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88877

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