THE provincial government is stepping up its campaign to mobilize barangays in towns and cities of Cebu to adopt the “purok (neighborhood/zone)” system to deal with natural and man-made calamities.
Baltazar Tribunalo Jr., head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), said instituting the purok system will help barangays effectively deal with these calamities and other problems at their level.
In yesterday’s conference on community management disaster risk reduction at the Capitol Social Hall, Tribunalo said a purok system enables the barangay to build resilience and independence in responding to emergencies.
He said a purok system can build a database that will identify every household, the area’s environmental hazards and their preparedness in dealing with emergencies.
Tribunalo said barangays should also set up an early warning system (EWS) and a purok Emergency Response Team (ERT) to assist their constituents.