“Batanes just proved that preparedness saves lives,” the Climate Change Commission (CCC) said.
The commission commended the province of Batanes for recording “zero casualty” in the wake of Super Typhoon “Meranti” (local name Ferdie), which has been described as the strongest storm in the world so far this year.
“Meranti” is the strongest storm in the Western Pacific since Super Typhoon “Haiyan” (“Yolanda”), which claimed over 6,000 lives when it devastated central Philippines in November 2013.
“The fact that no casualties were recorded means that the provincial government did a commendable job in preparing for the super typhoon,” said Secretary Emmanuel De Guzman, the vice chairman and executive director of CCC.
“As an island province of the country, Batanes is exemplary for its preparedness and resilience to strong typhoons. The rest of the country should learn from the good practices of local communities in Batanes on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction,” De Guzman added.
The island of Itbayat sat directly in the path of the super typhoon that hit the province on September 13. The storm later swept past Taiwan on its way to mainland China, and left eight people dead.
But the extent of the damage in Batanes remains unclear.
De Guzman said that if a province that is the constant target of storms can achieve zero casualty, other local government units can do the same.
As the country expects typhoons to be stronger and more devastating due to climate change, he said, it is important to strengthen the capacity of LGUs to cope with climate change impacts.
The CCC has been brought its Communities for Resilience (CORE) program around the country to promote a risk- and science-based approach to climate-change adaptation and mitigation planning among LGUs.
The program aims to help LGUs develop a local climate change action plan (LCCAP).
An LCCAP lays down the policies and measures an LGU will enact to increase its resilience to climate change. It identifies the goals and basis of planning every project, along with actions to be taken, the source of funds, responsibility and schedules.