Office of Senator Loren Legarda

'Earthquakes turn into major disasters due to unsafe structures—poorly built structures, buildings in inappropriate places, inadequate design and materials specification, and shortcuts in construction. Inspection during the construction of both public and private infrastructure is important. The additional expense required for making structures safe from earthquakes is worth it especially if it would save thousands of precious lives'...

'Despite bearing the brunt of disasters, women have been silently and effectively at the frontline of disaster prevention and climate change adaptation efforts. We must invest in women, make them part of decision-making, as their development role is crucial in adapting to climate change and building community resilience to disasters,' said Senator Legarda...

'While we rebuild the lives of our people in disaster-stricken areas, it may be good to reflect that a similar disaster is likely waiting to happen in hundreds of other places in our country, maybe known already to us,' writes Senator Legarda...

'The cost-effectiveness of investing in pre-disaster activities has already been proven in other countries including China, Vietnam and Bangladesh. The use of the calamity fund for pre-disaster activities will boost the ongoing efforts of government agencies and LGUs and will hasten the realization of our goal to become a disaster-resilient nation'...

'Investments on DRR such as flood control, forest management, hazard identification, mapping and assessment, research and development, preparedness and risk financing must be increased, made more effective and must show results'...

Legarda stressed that both the national government and the LGUs must think long-term and do more for improved urban planning and disaster mitigation. The Senator also called for improvements in structural safety, and early warning through a better update of data on flood hazards and vulnerabilities...

'I urge the government to seriously revisit its spending policy vis-à-vis the DRRM law because while disasters are becoming worse and deadlier, our actions are still inconsistent with our goals of a disaster-resilient nation', says Legarda, calling for flood control, hazard identification, mapping and assessment, and more...

'We need to ensure that political commitments to the HFA translate into concrete actions and measurable gains from national to local levels. We cannot afford to be short-sighted in the era of climate change and content ourselves with post-disaster relief and rehabilitation,' Legarda declared...