Troops prepare for 'Yolanda' in the north

MANILA, Philippines - The military and civilian agencies in northern and central Luzon are preparing for a “Yolanda” in the north by conducting disaster response training.

Maj. Emmanuel Garcia, chief of the 1st Civil Relations Group, said the training would adopt a scenario in which provinces in the region were hit by a typhoon as powerful as “Yolanda.”

“Troops of the Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) are now gearing up for future disasters specifically that of the caliber of typhoon Yolanda,” Garcia said in a statement.

"Yolanda," which ravaged the country in November, has left over 6,200 persons dead and has damaged around P36-billion worth of properties.

The first phase of the training was held in Camp Aquino in Tarlac from Feb. 10 to 12 and focused on basic life support and disaster preparedness.

The second leg will be conducted in Sta. Ana, Cagayan from Feb. 14 to 16 and will involve soldiers from the 21st Infantry Battalion and the Naval Forces Northern Luzon

The third phase will also be held in Sta. Ana on Feb. 17 to 19 and will be participated in by teachers and barangay officials.

“Future training [sessions] in different municipalities are being finalized,” Garcia said.

The exercises seek to improve the region’s capabilities in terms of life-support, disaster preparations, disaster response, relief distribution, law and order, communications and information flow and family and community organization.

Participants will also be taught survival techniques, military food and water cache techniques or food stockpiling, indigenous water filtration and distillation methods and finding and processing indigenous edible materials.

More than 100 soldiers, barangay officials and civilians will join the training.

NOLCOM chief Lt. Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr. said the activity would allow stakeholders to prepare for disasters, which he described as “the new enemy on the horizon.”

"We can only win if we unite in preparing before these disasters strike," Catapang said.

NOLCOM has identified places in every military camp in northern and central Luzon as evacuation centers during disasters.

The training sessions were organized by the military, local police, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Education and Social Welfare departments and local governments. -  Alexis Romero with C. M.