With apologies to the author, I take the liberty of freely
commenting on his very commendable article. May I just add my 5-cents worth:
1. With such an alliance, integration and
coordination are paramount. The choice of Dr. Nathaniel von Einsiedel as
convenor is a good early step.
2. Full extended commitment is very difficult to
maintain for such a loose alliance. What must be stressed is transparency of
objectives. It is irrational to expect every aggrupation to have pure selfless
motives; but it should be expected to allow some moderate for-profit
orientation.
3. The devastated area includes underdeveloped
communities that have long bred insurgency. With the overflow of foreign
assistance, it is possible to pay particular attention to the development of
these places for improved government services to allow sustainable growth.
4. Last but not least is attention to keep away the
usual demons of Philippine governance: credit-grabbing, political dynasties,
and patronage politics.
5. I believe that the series of mishaps and
disasters has a God-sent hidden purpose. We have attracted the attention of the
international community as well as private local entities. What we are seeing
is the silver-lining. We just need to continue working together.
________________________________________________________________________
Assuring
recovery in the new year by Paulo
Alcazaren (The Philippine Star)
The year 2013 was one of disasters with the Visayas taking
the brunt. The twin terrors of the temblor and typhoon Yolanda wrought
unfathomable loss of life, heritage structures, and damage to the economy.
Filipinos are resilient. This is a given, but in the face of
the scale and scope of devastation, it is unrealistic to expect quick recovery.
The initial rescue and relief have almost run their course, although many areas
have yet to get enough attention. In this coming new year, the aspects of
recovery and reconstruction will weigh heavy on assuring the Visayas that it
will recover and be rebuilt sustainably.
The damage and trauma is really hard to describe unless you
visit. But such situations can be turned into opportunities. The opportunity
for hard-hit cities, towns and provinces is to rebuild and re-plan with
sustainability and resilience built into new infrastructure, landscape
development, and building architecture.
Back in Manila, I sat in a number of discussions with
professionals and their organizations in the fields of architecture, landscape
architecture and planning. Members of the groups in the areas affected had
already taken things into their own hands, but more focused help is needed in
terms of physical re-planning and redesign.
The opportunities to contribute professionally for
re-planning and rebuilding have been difficult because of the numerous civic
groups and layers of bureaucracy. Some of the professional organizations
themselves have appeared to have difficulty in organizing their members for
this long-haul effort. It may be a lack of capacity, financial resources,
internal politics or the onset of the holidays. This has led to more creative
alliances to address the desire of those eager to be of service.
One of these alliances sent me their call to arms via email.
I quote liberally from their letter:
“Barely had Yolanda blown through the Visayas… when
environmental planners and other like-minded professionals… gathered in
cyberspace to find ways to channel expertise and experience towards the task of
rebuilding. Realizing the serious planning implications of the devastation and
casting aside professional concerns and business interests, we offered to help
the best way we can – our professional service.
As volunteers, we sought for a channel through which they can
effectively contribute.
“Not finding a means through our some of own professional associations,
we banded together to form a volunteer alliance called Alliance for Safe and
Sustainable Reconstruction (ASSURE), a non-profit, non-stock corporation. It is
born out of the realization that professional assistance is most urgent.
“The alliance is comprised of environmental planners,
architects, landscape architects, engineers and related professionals, most of
us have extensive experience working with international development
organizations such as the UN, World Bank and Asian Development Bank; USAID;
AusAID, GIZ (GTZ); JICA among others; national government agencies; local
government units; and the private sector including private consulting firms.
Many have been directly involved with disaster risk mitigation and climate
adaptation work, with some involved in post- Sendong and post-Pablo
rehabilitation work.
“Less than two weeks after Yolanda, two of our volunteers
were assigned to help in the worst hit areas of Tacloban and Guiuan in
conjunction with UN Habitat’s relief and rehabilitation work in the two areas.
“We volunteers have also chosen Dr. Nathaniel von Einsiedel
to serve as convenor and coordinator for the alliance. He served as regional
director for Asia-Pacific of the United Nations Urban Management Program, where
he supervised technical assistance and capacity building activities in
developing Asian countries.
“ASSURE’s primary purpose is two-fold: first, to more
systematically promote the adoption of the principles and practice of
sustainable environmental planning in the preparation and implementation of
post-disaster recovery plans; and second, to make available technical
assistance in the form of professional services to the government, development
partners, aid agencies, and/or private sector groups in carrying out
post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation work.
“Anticipating that the reconstruction and recovery
activities in the affected communities will take several years, ASSURE has
adopted related activities of research, competency building on disaster risk
mitigation and post-disaster recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction,
assistance to local governments in preparation of economic recovery and
development plans and formulation of investment promotions programs, provision
of financial advisory services for accessing capital markets and other sources
of financing disaster risk mitigation and post-disaster recovery,
rehabilitation and reconstruction, and establishment and operation of
information technology systems and information services to support the efforts
above.
“As an Alliance of
professionals… ASSURE also seeks to partner with like-minded organizations,
business corporations, international development agencies and NGO’s both local
and international.”
Aside from ASSURE, the Philippine Association of Landscape
Architects (PALA) officers have informed me of their support for initiatives
for soft approaches to risk mitigation via interventions like mangroves and the
use of parks for emergency refuge. The Heritage Conservation Society (HCS) is
also actively supporting initiatives to address the loss of heritage structures
like the churches in Bohol and Cebu.
One thing is for sure, It will take a concerted effort of
many groups to see though the next stage for rebuilding the region. I
personally sense a lack of organization, collaboration or communication between
many groups who express the willingness to contribute. I do hope, with the
holiday season behind us, that we all buckle down to work.
Time is not on our side. We must remember that the next
typhoon season is just six months away and earthquakes can strike without
notice. We should all adopt a sense of urgency and the common sense to set
aside intramural squabbles, politics or personal agendas. If we do not, then
all we will assure ourselves is nothing but more woe in 2014.
