OCD chief pushes adequate rescue assets, critical infrastructure

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of Civil Defense (OCD), in collaboration with various government agencies, is continuously implementing interventions to strengthen the disaster preparedness of the country.

Among the priorities are ensuring infrastructure resilience and the availability of adequate disaster response resources nationwide.

Civil defense administrator Ariel Nepomuceno has directed the regional offices of OCD to ensure the availability of an updated list of critical facilities alongside the inspection report of the integrity of the structures in coordination with the Department of Public Works and Highways and other concerned agencies.

The memorandum order cited the desired outcome No. 3 of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan 2020-2030 under the Prevention and Mitigation pillar, which states that there is a need for “increased structural integrity of housing, building and critical infrastructure.”

He also instructed the regional directors to submit reports of the available rescue assets such as but not limited to rescue vehicles like rubber boats, heavy rescue equipment, water filtration machines, information and communications equipment.