Let me begin by issuing a disclaimer as we beat the deadline for this week’s column. While we go to press, Executive Order No. 19 Series of 2026 has been disseminated to all public and private schools in Negros Oriental until the end of the week for the suspension or cancellation of classes at all levels because of Tropical Depression Basyang.
We have lost count of the many Executive Orders signed by the Provincial Governor, but a good number of them have zeroed in on students and pupils being told to stay home to prepare for an impending typhoon and, ultimately, flooding in their respective areas. Thus, we are wont to ask this oft-repeated observation of whether the Philippines now is a country known for its countless calamities and disasters.
Lest we may be accused of painting a dire scenario of the country, perhaps, we can deduce some thought-provoking ideas from a story about two English politicians, Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone.
Disraeli was asked the difference between disaster and calamity. “If Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a disaster. But, if someone dragged him out again, that would be a calamity.”
The story might be a suspect as it tells the difference between two politicians, of how Disraeli treated calamity and disaster in relation to William Gladstone.
In law, our leaders abhor the use of calamity and prefer disaster. Our leaders use disaster, hence, the reason why we have the Philippine Disaster Act of 2010.
Management of disasters are categorized into prevention and mitigation, response, recovery and rehabilitation – before, during and after. These are the measures by which all disaster responses are measured and weighed.
All disaster management starts with prevention and mitigation. If disasters cannot be prevented, at least it will be mitigated. Preventions and mitigations are actions done before the occurrence of disaster.
Take the words, “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” Take the mitigation processes in three Philippine settings – Batanes, Dinagat Island, and Agusan Marsh.
Northernmost of the Philippine archipelago is the Batanes group of islands. Prominent of this group is the Ivatan people, hence, the word Batanes.
The islands are windswept and visited by typhoons all year round. It is said that typhoons visit the Batanes group of islands 15 times a year.
Storms and typhoons are part of Ivatan life. To Ivatans, they may be unavoidable, but they can be mitigated.
Ivatans are famous for their storm mitigations. Ivatan houses are designed to mitigate year-long storms. Ivatan foods, mostly root crops, are designed to last long. Each Ivatan house has two months supply of these root crops.
The Ivatan house is a unique structure. The house is divided into four: the main house, kitchen, toilet, and bath area. During cold seasons, the families sleep in the kitchen. Ivatan houses are constructed and built with limestone walls, reed and cogon roofs which withstand storms numbering an average of ten times a year.
All Ivatan houses have one common structure. This is the wall that has no window and faces the direction towards the wind. Thus, Ivatan houses serve not only as their homes but, as protectors during storms.
Dinagat Islands is in Mindanao facing the Pacific Ocean and it is regularly hit by storms. People in Dinagat Islands are resilient to storms which perpetually visit their islands. Like the Ivatans, the Dinagat Island people treat typhoons as a way of life and not as their enemy.
During storms, people living in higher grounds in Dinagat Islands open up their homes to people living in low-lying areas. They also help during evacuation and after the storm. The storms suggest communal spirit, of people helping other people during the time of crises.
Thus, it is common during storms in the Dinagat Islands to see people in low-lying areas flocking to safe houses on higher grounds.
On the other hand, people in Agusan Marsh live in houses built on floating logs not on pillars. Thus, when flood comes in Agusan Marsh, houses float along with the flood. Houses in the area float with the water; while poultry are kept on logs. Schools are built on floats,too, and not on solid grounds. Children go to school by canoes and bancas.
People in Agusan Marsh fear crocodiles and alligators which abound and are common in water-based environment, not land-based predators. Remember Lolong, the crocodile? Lolong the crocodile was believed to have killed a young girl going to school paddling a canoe. A hunt led to the capture of Lolong the crocodile.
Agusan Marsh exemplifies man’s resiliency, like the Ivatans and the Dinagat Islanders. We can never prepare enough for any calamity or disaster, whether impending or forthcoming. We ought to learn from these experiences in disaster resiliency. | NWI
