Makati bats for gender sensitive disaster risk management practices

MANILA, Philippines - The Makati City government will push for gender-sensitive disaster risk management practices in the city's 33 barangays.

Some 100 community leaders from the city's 33 barangays on Thursday attended a seminar on Gender Sensitivity in Community Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) and a Basic Life Support training which were hosted by the city government.

“We thank our partners in the community for actively engaging in our city-wide efforts to mainstream gender sensitivity in DRRM at the barangay level. We appreciate that they recognize their important role in preparing our city and its people for disasters in order to mitigate, if not eliminate, their impact on lives and properties,” Binay said.

Binay noted that gender-sensitivity has often been left out in disaster management and planning.

The seminar is part of the city's annual celebration of the Gender and Development (GAD) week.

"Mainstreaming gender-sensitivity puts emphasis on gender, both men and women, and the role of women in DRRM wherein many of them perform vital functions in search, rescue, and rehabilitation,” he said.

The day-long activity was spearheaded by the Makati GAD Council, chaired by Binay, with experts from the Makati Command Control and Communication (C3) as resource speakers.

This year’s GAD Week celebration carries the theme, “Babae at Lalaki: Magkatuwang sa Pagtugon sa Kalamidad at Sakuna” (Women and Men: Partners in Responding to Calamities and Disasters). Binay said the theme was very timely because of the onset of the typhoon season this month that mostly affects low-lying areas due to floods brought by heavy rains.

The week-long celebration launched last Monday has also been observed simultaneously in the city’s 33 barangays with their own activities. At the city level, around 50 frontline personnel of the Makati Social Welfare Department also underwent a gender-sensitivity training last Tuesday.

Last year, the city government prioritized the training of barangay leaders and personnel on Gender-Sensitive Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) to build their capability to adopt widely accepted GAD methods and practices in planning and implementing DRRM programs.

Recently, the city successfully executed the first Community Based Flood Evacuation Drill in Barangay Bangkal for residents and informal settlers, earning a “Very Satisfactory” rating from the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

The drill was executed with a real-life scenario, complete with pregnant women, babies, children, persons with disability and senior citizens among the “evacuees”.

The Makati GAD Week celebration has become an annual tradition through City Council Resolution No. 2009-177 that proclaimed July 18 as Makati GAD Day and the week it falls within as Makati GAD Week.