It always happens. Just when authorities have suspended classes and called off government work in anticipation of a forthcoming typhoon, we see the sun shining brightly on the horizon the following day as if to spite the eager beavers in our midst.

But let's not blame our officials, though. As they say, it is better to err on the side of caution. You see, typhoons can be fickle, too, looking fierce coming down, but actually turning into a whimper when it hits land. That is usually the case. And we probably have the Sierra Madre to thank for that.

The build-up of "Karding" as it approached Luzon was so scarily hyped, we thought it would be another "Ondoy" or "Yolanda" in the making, with typhoon signals reaching as high as 5 in some areas, particularly Quezon and Aurora.

The forecasted strong winds and massive rainfall, it turns out, were hardly felt in Metro Manila. That's something to be grateful for as it meant manageable damage for our typhoon-battered populace.
Just the same, "Karding" still left a swath of destruction in the places it passed through, and we have our government agencies who stood prepared for any eventuality to thank for. "Karding," unlike "Yolanda" or "Ondoy," couldn't actually pull the trigger.

This brings us to another point we'd like to raise. In this era of super typhoons, like "Karding," calls for a separate agency dedicated to disasters seem to be getting louder. Our favorite senator, Bong Go, has been harping on this ever since we can recall.

Under the existing system, disaster response is handled largely by regional branches of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council or NDRRMC. (Whew, think of an acronym that is much longer.)

Unable to get enough backing from the previous 18th Congress due to time constraints, Go has renewed his push for a Department of Disaster Resilience, a separate department that would have a clear unity of command and primary responsibility in responding to disasters and natural calamities in the Philippines.

Go is eyeing to have an empowered, highly specialized department that would be responsible for ensuring safe, adaptive and disaster-resilient communities. Under his version of the measure, the department shall concentrate on three key result areas, namely disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness and response, and recovery and building forward better.