The Philippines, throughout its recorded history, has suffered from an inexhaustible number of deadly typhoons, earthquakes, volcano eruptions and other natural disasters. This is due to its location along the Ring of Fire, or typhoon belt — a large Pacific Ocean region where many of Earth’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. Annually, approximately 80 typhoons develop above the Pacific of which 19 enter the Philippine region and six to nine make landfall, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), making us the country most exposed to tropical storms in the world.
To prepare our people against the threat of future disasters, TV5’s Alagang Kapatid Foundation, Inc. (AKFI), in partnership with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), conducted a series of disaster preparedness forums in the densely-populated communities of Quezon City, Taguig City and Caloocan City in observance of the National Disaster Consciousness Month with the theme Kahandaan at Kaligtasan ng Pamayanan, Pundasyon ng Kaunlaran. The public assemblies focused on people’s awareness of how disasters can be mitigated through early warning systems and cooperative efforts by both public and private sectors.
Resource persons invited were: Paul Santos of Philippine Blood Disease and transfusion Center (under Department of Health) who discussed the importance of blood donation, especially during calamities. Supervising Science Research specialist Joan Salcedo from PHIVOLCS discussed the basics on earthquakes and earthquake hazards, as well as the tales of disaster. Science Research specialist Erlinton Olavere discussed what the
residents should do before, during and after an earthquake. Guest speaker Martin Aguda discussed emergency planning/disaster preparedness.
In separate occasions, Kapatid stars Nicole Estrada, Mark Neumann, Chanel Morales, Akihiro Blanco, Malak So Sdifat, Benjo Leoncio and Chris Leonardo also joined PHIVOLCS and AKFI in educating our Kapatid in the importance of whistles during calamities as early warning devices. Maynilad water provided water bottles to participants, while McDonald’s provided free snacks and drinks.
AKFI executive director Menchie Silvestre has been with Alagang Kapatid’s disaster relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction work for several years now including Typhoon
Sendong, Habagat Flooding in 2012, Zamboanga siege, Bohol Earthquake and Typhoon Yolanda in 2013; and Typhoon Glenda just recently. There have also been big fires and floods in Metro Manila where Alagang Kapatid’s relief goods and personnel were fielded.
According to her, “The AKFI Team has this unique skill of working our way around the limited funds and resources. We may not have had the same volume of relief goods, nor the donations that other groups collected from the public but we had our share of in-kind donations and assets which allowed us to still make an impact in the community.”
Silvestre stressed further and said, “We weren’t limited by templates of bigas, noodles, sardinas. We had the MVP Group which offered libreng tawag, libreng charging, mobile sine, mobile kitchen and we had a warm happy team.”
There was also Hanap Kapatid which was Tulong Kapatid’s response to a pressing need by survivors and relatives in MMLA/abroad to locate their relatives. Given the limitations of No Signal/No Wifi/NO 3G available, the AKFI Team went back to mano-mano style of getting relatives to post the names of their loved ones on their Facebook account, which the AKFI Team listed on excel and which they printed and hand carried by their teams that were deployed on the ground. “This was not in the template. Nor was it mandated. It was, however, an expressed need at that time which we could provide, and which we did, while others couldn’t,” explains Silvestre.
According to Silvestre, some of the most difficult situations she faced included the hardships posed by Typhoon Yolanda. “Yolanda was a logistical nightmare for us. We had to work around what we have in order to bring our services to reach and help those who are in need.”
How does Alagang Kapatid itself respond to these challenges? According to her, “Through active collaboration and engagement by all the organizations under the MVP Group of companies such as trucks, equipment (Smart’s sat phones and wifi), etc., AKFI has also tapped the active support from the military which solved a lot of transport limitations by tapping the C130 of the Air Force, ships of the Navy, trucks and warm bodies of the Army. This cut down costs and saved AKFI millions. There were also local civic groups that provided guidance and assistance when AKFI needed data which was not available from the LGUs. But most importantly is the human factor: While funds, resources, equipment and other logistics will be AKFI’s challenges for the next coming years, to surpass these challenges, AKFI has a team of skilled, competent and dedicated people who spell the difference.”
Silvestre adds, “A competent team would simply be able to carry out a task. A tough team would survive. But a dedicated team could work miracles. A dedicated team is driven to serve and work around and beyond the limitations. And this we’ve proven in very challenging calamities such as Typhoons Pablo and Yolanda.”
Considering the realities on the ground for humanitarian workers like her and for those who might be engaged later in providing assistance to our Filipino brothers and sisters during calamities and times of disasters, her parting words are: “Resourcefulness, humility, dedication and passion.”