SENATOR Loren Legarda appealed to President Benigno Aquino III to convene the Climate Change Commission to enhance the country’s disaster risk reduction programs.

Legarda reiterated her call to the President following a report from an international company, Swiss Reinsurance Co., which showed a significant increase in the economic cost of disasters. From $68 billion in 2009, it rocketed to $218 billion in 2010.

“The impacts of natural hazards have been a major constraint and an important development issue that many countries, including the Philippines, have to face time and again. With climate change, such hazards can be more frequent and intense,” she said.

Legarda is the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Climate Change.

She said the lessons of Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009 and the threat of a magnitude 7.2 earthquake should serve as a reminder “that disaster prevention and mitigation is more cost-effective than focusing on enhancing our capacities in relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation.”

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People's Journal / People's Journal Tonight
By Bernadette E. Tamayo
April 02, 2011