LGUs urged to apply disaster preparedness at barangay level

In the wake of the recent calamities that hit the region, the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council has urged the local government officials to implement disaster preparedness down to the barangay level. 

Neil Angelo Sanchez, operations officer of the Office of Civil Defense-RDCC, said despite their campaign, many Barangay Disaster Councils are still not active and able to response to calamities and emergencies.

He said this is because some local government units are giving less priority to disaster preparedness.

Because of this, Sanchez said only about 45 percent of the barangay disaster councils in the region are active.

“Sec. Teodoro (National Defense and National Disaster Coordinating Council chairman Gilberto Teodoro) has instructed for the strengthening of the Barangay Disaster Councils nationwide for them to be able to respond in times of disaster. But some of them are not active because they depend on the city or municipality for funding,” Sanchez said.

He explained that the barangays, being at the forefront of the government service, should be the ones to respond during calamities.

He added the LGUs should refrain from relying on the regional disaster office and practice the “yo-yo” or “you are on your own” except during big disasters that need help from the RDCC or the NDCC.

“We encourage the LGUs to strengthen their disaster councils. From being responsive, they practice being pro-active,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez said that in Bohol, which has many disaster-prone areas, they have already gone to the next level, which is the contingency planning in their training with the LGUs.

In Cebu City, the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council earlier said it has so far trained BDC members in 29 of the city’s 80 barangays on disaster response and preparedness.

Sanchez lauded the CCDCC because it is very active in responding to disasters, especially in attending to the needs of the relatives of the victims in the sinking of the M/V Princess of the Stars.

He said Cebu City has a very big chance to win the top award in this year’s Gawad Kalasag (Kalamidad at Sakuna Labanan, Sariling Galing ang Kaligtasan), an excellence in disaster management and humanitarian assistance awards.

CCDCC is vying for the top award in the Gawad Kalasag against the other highly-urbanized cities of Makati and Olongapo.

Sanchez said in the whole region, only Cebu City, for the highly urbanized city, and Bayawan City, for the chartered city, qualified for the awards. —Wenna A. Berondo/LPM