by Felipo David G. Malcampo
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- For earthquake and tsunami-prone island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-tawi, the Office of Civil Defense is making headway with its information and education campaign on disaster risk reduction management (DRRM).
In the different schools, OCD-BASULTA spearheaded the conduct of lectures with video presentations, earthquake/fire drill exercises and the distribution posters and brochures.
When in the communities, they underscore the importance of family disaster plan to barangay folks before conducting the quake drills, and advocate active community involvement in tree planting activities and clean-up drives.
In an interview Monday while on board a RORO vessel bound for Bongao, Tawi-tawi, OCD-BASULTA Chief Ramon G. Santos said that “Ang pinaka-tutok ng aming trabaho ay ang paghahanda ng ating mga kababayan sa mga posibleng sakuna.”
Based in Malagutay, Zamboanga City, Santos and his team were on their way to conduct an orientation on DRRM with earthquake drills with students and teachers at Abubakar Computer Learning Center and at Bongao Science High School.
Preferred to be called “Manong Boy,” Santos revealed that their efforts in the islands are all made possible with the collaboration of the local government units, line agencies, non-government organizations and the men in uniform. Santos is a retired General in the Philippine Army.
He took special mention of the Red Cross in Bongao, particularly its Administrator Diana Amilasan and its Board of Directors’ Chairperson Glenda Abdul, whom he said are working closely with their Liaison Officer Jun Dail for the ground work in Tawi-tawi.
In a phone interview with Liaison Officers Edd Vincent Martin and Rene Mabilog, they reported that in Lamitan City, Basilan, the DDRM Caravan, which started July 2, is still on-going till the end of this month. Their focused groups are the more than 4,000 beneficiaries of the 4Ps Program under the DSWD – covering all 45 barangays in that City. Family disaster plan and earthquake-tsunami drills are being conducted in the coastal area communities, and earthquake drills in upland barangays, Martin said.
In separate interviews, Jenner Pandan, Jade Camasura and Marx Sorino collaborated details in their conduct of DDRM info drive with video presentations and quake drills in the elementary schools of Atong-atong, Switch Yakal, Pamucalin, Port Holland and at Maluso National High School – all in Basilan.
Still in a separate phone interview, Sulu liaison officer Anni Intimani said that right after the June fire incident in a business block in Jolo, he and Myrna Gajir represented OCD-BASULTA in the First Responder Medical Training Course conducted by USNS Mercy Pacific Partnership 2012. They also claim to have participated the 3-day Red Cross Action Team (RCAT) training conducted by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC).
As it appears, both trainings were just enhancement skills for the duo, who already had completed the conduct of a First Responder Course with personnel of the 4th Civil Relations Group, and another with the composite troopers detailed in the Task Force Zamboanga.
These revelations give substance to what Manong Boy said earlier that they aim to have barangay-based trained “first responders” to emergencies and disasters, in as many communities as possible though out the BASULTA provinces.
“The rationale is simple, locals must be equipped with skills to help themselves in times when they needed it most,” he said.
According to data from the Manila Observatory, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, and Basilan are the first three in the top 10 provinces in the Philippines that are at risk to tsunamis; and that Sulu is number 2 in the top 10 provinces at risk to volcanic eruptions.
Given that data, Manong Boy explains why there will be no let ups in their mission. With the onset of the Holy Month of Ramahdan, however, he said that they will pause for some assessment of their initial activities, but that this will be followed immediately by some planning for the coming months.
Asked to give a scenario on their future activities, Santos declared that, “After these pockets of trainings, drills, and education campaigns, our next move is to conduct massive simulated disaster drills, involving whole towns and mobilizing all local government units, government agencies and all people in a given area.”
Concluding the interview, Santos drops a reminder: “ We may not be able to prevent or stop the occurrence of natural calamities. But we can always be prepared for it and in the process minimize damage to properties and the lost of lives.”
From a personnel profile presented by the OCD-BASULTA Chief himself during the PIA Media Forum last month, the retired General has in his team a dozen of young professionals, to include: a registered criminologist, a registered nurse, two registered midwives, a graduate in marine science, an animal rescue specialist, a commerce graduate, a certified instructor in first aid and basic life support, 2 graduates in computer science , and a registered social worker. All are in their 20s. (FDM/PIA9-ZBST)