POE ON TYPHOON ROLLY:

Families in evacuation centers urgently need food, water and medicine, including face mask and face shield.

With their homes and crops ravaged by the typhoon, they only have the government and the kind help of the public to rely on to get through this devastation.

We need to avert a double tragedy befalling the evacuees by ensuring that after surviving the typhoon, they will not get sick in temporary shelters especially as we are still battling the coronavirus disease.

We also call on Congress anew to pass the bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience and Emergency Assistance and Management that we have earlier proposed.

We need a dedicated agency that will focus on disaster resilience and management. Every calamity coming our way reminds us of the missed opportunity to be better prepared and give a more adequate response to the people and local governments. Let's make this a priority.