SENATOR Loren Legarda said as many Filipinos recognize the importance of prompt alerts on impending disasters, the government must heed the people’s demand through the immediate establishment of early warning systems and prioritization of disaster preparedness programs.

Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on climate change, cited the results of a recent Pulse Asia survey which revealed that 56% of Filipinos believe that the government must prioritize early warning mechanisms among its disaster preparedness efforts, followed by the storing up of relief goods (19%), designating evacuation centers (16%), and purchasing rescue and relief equipment (10%).

“It is good to know that many of our citizens are aware of the importance of establishing effective early warning systems in their communities. This should prompt the government, especially the local governments and barangay officials to work on it immediately,” she stressed.

“Our early warning system must be able to integrate risk knowledge, monitoring and warning service, risk communication and warning dissemination, and the response capacity of the community,” she added.