Isn't it cheaper for everyone in the long run to just move to safe locations once and for all rather than near coastlines and on slopes?

Cheaper for the government, the residents, and volunteers, I mean. Instead of evacuating people, packing relief goods, begging for food and water and medication, setting up shelters, and monitoring sanitation three or more times a year.

Don't say that it's easier said than done. Constant evacuation looks a lot more difficult to me. It also seems to encourage the "Maawa ka sa akin, ka'wa'wa naman ako" mentality that a lot of people bank on. It is always matched, of course, by an equally revolting, media mentality--"Here I am, I am your savior."

This game of having to be saved and saving can be tiresome in this country, because it happens several times within a year. It is, as a matter of fact, the underlying theme of every melodrama.