CEBU City Councilor Dave Tumulak experienced firsthand Japan’s disaster preparedness as he and two other city officials were stranded in Yokohama due to super typhoon Hagibis.
He was with City Administrator Floro Casas Jr. and special assistant to the mayor Jose Daluz III to represent Mayor Edgardo Labella in the Asean-Smart Cities Network High Level Conference on Friday, Oct. 11, 2019.
Casas and Daluz had a presentation about Cebu City’s infrastructure, urban planning, water, and transportation sector, while Tumulak was supposed to talk about disaster reduction and public safety.
The three were supposed to fly back to Cebu on Saturday, Oct. 12, but all flights were canceled due to the storm.
In an interview through Messenger, Tumulak told SunStar Cebu about the high level of awareness and disaster preparedness in Japan, adding that the public there was cooperative.
Common goal
“Artificial intelligence is necessary, but human intelligence is much better for zero casualty during disasters. Community cooperation is needed,” he said.
Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes and San Fernando Mayor Lakambini Reluya were also present at the conference.
The Asean-Smart Cities Network High Level Conference is a collaborative platform where cities from the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member-states work towards the common goal of “smart and sustainable” urban development.
Aside from Cebu City, the cities of Davao and Manila also took part in the activity.
Along with typhoon Hagibis, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake also struck Japan on Saturday afternoon at 5:25 p.m. hitting the Kanto region.
CNN Philippines reported that typhoon Hagibis has killed one person and injured 33. (JJL)