MANILA, Philippines - Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas will lead the conduct of simultaneous flood drills on Friday in 16 Metro Manila barangays occupying so-called “danger areas†along six major waterways.
Roxas will attend the flood drill in Barangay 201 along the Tripa de Gallina, one of the most densely populated areas in Pasay City with over 13,000 informal settlers.
The activity is part of the Department of Interior and Local Government's effort to step up its disaster risk reduction and management campaign to ensure the preparedness of informal settler during the rainy season.
Roxas said that the government agencies led by the DILG aims to attain "zero casualty," and the flood drills are aimed at raising the level of disaster preparedness for the informal settler-families.
The drills, which are coordinated with the local disaster risk reduction and management units, will ensure the presence of a functional and effective early warning system in the so-called danger zones or areas along riverbanks that are prone to flooding.
The barangay has an area estimated at 335,500 square meters along Estero Tripa de Gallina, a narrow waterway that flows through Pasay City, Parañaque and Manila and one of the 47 tributaries of the Pasig River.
The DILG has estimated that over 2,000 families live along the banks of the estero.
Roxas said a total of 100 families per barangay are expected to participate in the simultaneous flood drills, with the assistance of local disaster risk reduction management officers and participating national government agencies and people’s organizations
"As the rainy season looms, we prepare with optimism that no life shall again be lost due to complacency and disregard to the vulnerability of the urban poor," Roxas said.
He said simultaneous flood drills are already ongoing in identified sites in Metro Manila particularly those along the six major waterways, including the 7.3 km San Juan River, the 15-km Tullahan River in Malabon and Valenzuel cities, Manggahan Floodway in Pasig city, the 2.6 –km Maricaban Creek in Taguig and Pasay cities and Estero Tripa de Gallina and the 25-km Pasig River which connects Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay.