More ‘Yolanda’ victims get housing units

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said the government is working on giving more housing units

to victims of super typhoon "Yolanda" in Tacloban City, 10 years after the strongest storm to hit the country that left some 6,000 dead and thousands more homeless.

During the 10th "Yolanda" commemoration at the Tacloban City Convention Center, Marcos said the government had asked the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development and the National Housing Authority to speed up the delivery of housing units and land titles to the recipients.

As he handed out certificates of award to several beneficiaries of the NHA's "Yolanda" Permanent Housing sites, Marcos thanked the groups, workers, and governments that helped Tacloban City get back on its feet after "Yolanda."

"Who could ever forget the extraordinary outpouring of love and help and compassion that came from all over the country and all over the world? The volunteerism, the heroism that overflowed in the affected areas, specifically in the rehabilitation of Tacloban," he said.

"Indeed, what we saw back then was the spirit of Bayanihan in its truest form," he added.

Remember the victims

Government figures showed "Yolanda" killed at least 6,000 people.

"We must always keep a special place in our hearts for those whom we lost who were uncounted, unrecorded. We say 6,000 casualties (but) we do not know that for sure (and) we are certain that there were more," Marcos said.

"Even if that's the case, let them not be unremembered, so when we grieve and when we mourn for our dead, keep a special place in your heart for those who have not been known to have gone, but we know the loss that we feel," he said.

Super typhoon "Yolanda" hit several Visayas provinces like Leyte, Eastern Samar, Western Samar, Capiz, Cebu, Iloilo, Aklan, and Palawan on 8 November 2013. Tacloban City, however, was affected the most.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported 14,433 displaced families in Tacloban, largely from the coastal areas, who sought sanctuary in the convention center, one of the few facilities that survived "Yolanda."

Effect of climate change

Marcos acknowledged that Super typhoon "Yolanda" was the "onset of the worst effects of climate change," saying the country's experience with the disaster has taught the rest of the world about the destructive effects of climate change.

He said integrating climate change into formulating national policies and strengthening the country's disaster preparedness is essential.

"It is crucial to be reminded that climate change will keep exacerbating the impact of natural disasters," Marcos said.

"We must make climate change a vital component of our national policies and make sure that we apply our knowledge on climate change to every plan, to every decision and every initiative so that we can build stronger and more resilient communities," he said.

Phl better prepared

Meanwhile, in a speech at the 2023 Handa Pilipinas Visayas Leg in Tacloban, Marcos said the Philippines is "better prepared" for disasters 10 years after Yolanda's onslaught as the country has developed more tools to respond to catastrophes.

He said the Department of Science and Technology has developed disaster risk prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery technologies to enhance search and rescue operations.

The government and the corporate sector must collaborate to commercialize the instruments, he said.

"(We will) make sure that such devastation will be mitigated or somehow prevented because we are now better prepared, and we are now better adapted to the vagaries of very severe weather events," he added.

''But putting our experience at the heart of this event reminds us of the calamity that brought unimaginable destruction to the Visayas, to the Philippines. It serves as a poignant reminder of the power of nature and our vulnerability to that power," Marcos said.

Rebuilding resilience

Meanwhile, Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday joined the nation in commemorating the 10th anniversary of typhoon "Yolanda" (Haiyan), a super typhoon that killed thousands of people in Visayas and other parts of the country in 2013.

"As we mark the commemoration of typhoon "Yolanda," we come together to remember and honor the lives that were tragically taken away during the most devastating natural disaster in our history," Duterte said in a video message.

The storm, she said, left an indelible mark in the people's hearts and rebuilt the ordinary resilience and strength of those who were affected.

"In the midst of unimaginable destruction, we witness the unwavering spirit of Filipinos who rose above adversity and rebuild their lives with determination and courage," she said. "This commemoration serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of disaster risk reduction, climate change mitigation, and disaster preparedness."

Learning lessons from the past, Duterte said the government and communities should take proactive steps to prevent such catastrophic events from happening again.

"Together, we can build communities that are better prepared to face the challenge posed by natural disasters and climate change," she said.