A Facebook post of Anthony Allaga shows residents of Magsaysay, Misamis Oriental standing next to motorcycles covered by a collapsed roof after the 6.6-magnitude earthquake early this week. (AFP)

The recent earthquakes and continuing aftershocks in Mindanao enforced the need to integrate the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) into the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR).

This according to Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, pointing out that the DDR shall “guarantee unity of command, and science-based approach and full-time focus on natural hazards and even human-induced disasters.”

Twin earthquakes struck Tulunan in Cotabato on 29 (6.6 magnitude) and 31 (6.5) October, killing 16 people and wounding over 400 others.

The tremblors also damaged some 3,500 infrastructures and sent people out of their homes and buildings. Fire and landslides were likewise reported.

Salceda, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee and principal author of the DDR bill, said the Mindanao tremors showed lack of preparedness among concerned agencies.

“Uncoordinated assistance and responses by state actors clearly require continuous information, education and communication of risk assessments and scenario projections which can be best built into the DDR framework,” Salceda said.

Salceda said the DDR, endorsed by President Rodrigo Duterte during his fourth State of the Nation Address in July, will be the principal agency to plan, organize, direct and oversee programs to reduce risks, warn and respond, and provide relief, recovery and rehabilitation initiatives.

The DDR will also perform continuous assessment of building integrity and their spatial relations to earthquakes and related hazards.

“Among others, we need Phivolcs for risk assessment, vulnerability reduction and integrated response,” Salceda added.

The Lower House passed the DDR proposal in the 17th Congress but the bill failed to make it through the Senate.

Salceda refiled the measure in the 18th Congress as House Bill 30. He said the country would have a stronger capability to confront disaster threats when the DDR measure is approved.

Salceda explained that the DDR will create a Disaster Risk Analysis and Assessment Bureau (DRAAB) mandated to do risk analysis and assessment of communities towards the establishment of a People-Centered Early Warning System in all Philippine communities with the following key functions: generation of risk knowledge, which includes data collection and risk assessment; hazard monitoring and warning generation; warning dissemination and communication; and building of community capability through preparedness and awareness.

“This will provide the speed, scope and scale of information required to expedite accurate, understandable and timely warnings provided by the DDR which will have a scientist undersecretary to closely supervise the DRAAB,” he added.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) will serve as the core organization of the DDR, headed by a Secretary with undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and directors under him.

Aside from the OCD, DDR will also absorb the Climate Change Commission Office; Geo-Hazard Assessment and Engineering Geology section of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Environment department; Health Emergency Management Bureau of the Health department; the Disaster Response Assistance and Management Bureau of the Department of Social Welfare; and the Bureau of Fire Protection of the Local Government department.

Phivolcs and the state weather bureau will be DDR attached agencies.