MANILA, Philippines - Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse M. Robredo Saturday tasked local government units (LGUs) to determine how many households within their areas of jurisdiction can be affected by the West Valley Fault.
Robredo also directed LGUs to undertake measures to prepare these communities for eventualities during an earthquake and how to minimize damage.
"The damage of those within the fault line will be the worst," Robredo said."'Our main priority is really saving lives, so we have to let each household know what to do in certain situations," he said.
Robredo said that since government funds are lacking, the best solution would be to invest knowledge on the people.
"The government is already swamped with too many problems. We should not waste money and invest not on technology preparedness, but rather the preparedness of the people," he said.
The DILG Secretary even kidded that it would be better if LGUs are willing to shoulder expenses on evacuating the households that will be affected.
"Kung willing sila mag-subsidize ng pag-lipat, eh di mabuti, (If they are willing to subsidize for their move, then all the better)," he said.
"My biggest concern actually is that we do not really know what we are preparing for," he said. "
"Take Japan, for example. They were caught off-guard by the tsunami and quake. This is why it is better to prepare the people, and teach them what to do should there be a disaster," he said.
"The challenge for us is how to divide resources to overcome problems now and in the future," he said.
On Saturday, the DILG conducted an inter-agency conference on earthquake aftermath called the "Inter-Agency Workshop on Earthquake Aftermath: How to Proof the Local Governments."
