Lessons Learned: ‘Lawin’ and Improved Disaster Coverage
Screengrab from GMA News Online website.
LAWIN (International name: Haima) was not only the 12th typhoon to hit the country this year — it was also reported to be as powerful as Yolanda (Haiyan) that struck the Philippines in 2013. But the media’s coverage of the Lawin disaster was significantly better, devoid of the posturing and grandstanding that characterized the reporting on Yolanda. This time, the press focused on providing the information the public needs when disasters strike.
CMFR monitored primetime newscasts (ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol, GMA-7’s 24 Oras, TV5’s Aksyon, and CNN Philippines’ Network News) as well as the daily broadsheets (Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, and Manila Bulletin) to assess just how the media covered Lawin before, during and after it struck the Philippines.
Most of the monitored media organizations made Lawin’s approach their banner story, providing such details as its maximum sustained winds and gustiness, the direction it was taking and its size days before it even made landfall. The media’s sustained coverage was driven by typhoon Karen (Sarika) wreaking havoc in Northern Luzon only days before Lawin struck.
Forecasts from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) and other weather agencies such as the Joint Typhoon Warning Center and Japan Meteorological Agency noted that Lawin was likely to intensify into a super typhoon before making landfall. The media duly noted this possibility and the need for the areas in its path to prepare for the worst.
As Lawin approached Northern Luzon, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said in its first update on Oct. 18 that it had maximum sustained winds of up to 185 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 230 kph. The following day, Lawin’s sustained winds reached 220 kph and its gustiness up to 305 kph.
Television made use of graphics to illustrate Lawin’s direction, strength and the dangers it posed such as flash floods, landslides and storm surges. Understandably, coverage peaked by Oct. 19, the eve of Lawin’s landfall in Cagayan province. By that day, Lawin had been upgraded into a “super “typhoon and Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 5 – Pag-asa’s highest warning signal – was hoisted over the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Kalinga Apayao, Northern Abra and Ilocos Norte.
Monitored primetime newscasts reported on Lawin in the first half of the programs, reiterating the dangers the super typhoon posed and highlighting the measures being taken by local government units and other agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Print media understandably trailed behind the broadcast platform but their online platforms proved useful in posting reports such as the state of the areas affected by the typhoon.
CMFR has noted in the past how journalists have a tendency to ask insensitive questions as they try to focus the story on the devastation and, at times, to promote their own initiatives in rescue and relief operations. These were not entirely absent in media’s coverage of Lawin but they were less evident. Instead, the media focused on useful information such as what roads were impassable and how relief efforts were being carried out.
As per NDRRMC’s Oct. 25 update, there were 14 confirmed deaths in Lawin’s aftermath, more than 1,000 families in evacuation centers and 90,035 houses damaged in Regions I, II, III and the Cordilleras. NDRRMC Executive Director Ricardo Jalad said in reports that the preemptive and forced evacuation initiated by LGUs was a big factor in keeping the casualty figures low. The media dutifully reported these updates.
The devastation caused by Typhoon Yolanda revealed the need for the media to upgrade the capacity in risk assessment, effectively translating technical terms into understandable language. Almost three years after Yolanda, the media appeared to have learned these lessons from that disaster.
Media coverage could also monitor how assigned agencies are ensuring the implementation of key activities in the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan’s thematic areas: prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response and rehabilitation and recovery.
In fact, in the commemorative book “Y it happened: Learning from Typhoon Yolanda,” NDRRMC wrote that “Clearly, TY Yolanda underscored even more the critical role that media play in disaster risk reduction and management not only in the emergency and early recovery phase, but more importantly in laying the groundwork for addressing vulnerability through prevention and mitigation.”
Indeed, the media’s work does not end when a typhoon leaves. Their role is not limited to being the first informer. Long after typhoons leave the Philippines, media should remain as an engaged partner in upgrading the public’s knowledge of risk reduction and mitigation while continuing to be a keen observer of rehabilitation and recovery efforts.