Cebu City unveils 24/7 emergency call center
Councilor Dave Tumulak at the Command Control Center (C3) says the goal is to respond to an emergency call in five minutes. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Call hotline 166 in Cebu City during an emergency and expect a response from a team in this office.
The Command Control Center (C3) in Cebu City was unveiled yesterday as a “fully functioning” office.
“Our goal is to be able to send an emergency response team and ambulance within five minutes after receiving a call,” said Councilor Dave Tumulak, who heads the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Staffers monitor video screens showing live feeds from 30 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed along the city’s major thoroughfares. They would be on the look out for signs of trouble as well as traffic situations and violators.
The media were shown a footage of a February 3 accident where a passenger jeep was seen crashing into a parked jeep.
The C3 hotline number 262-1424. Hotline operators are ready to dispatch policemen, firefighters or paramedics as needed.
Registered nurses are also on standby to give first aid instructions on the phone while a team heads to the place of the caller.
Police officers are also on standby in the C3 to respond to emergencies and to secure the center.
Tumulak said they are preparing purchase requests for 50 additional CCTV cameras.
He encouraged barangays to purchase their own CCTV cameras and let the command center personnel monitor the feed.
A seismic meter donated by Phivolcs can detect earthquakes within Cebu City.
Weather instruments donated by Pag-asa measures wind levels and direction, amount of rainfall and humidity among others.
“With these, the city will be more secure in terms of life and property,” Tumulak said.
Tumulak said personnel in the center undergo extensive screening and background check.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama who visited the C3 yesterday said he wants to modernize it further to be par with international standards.
In Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the center he visited is quake-proof, has water supply good for seven weeks and is guaranteed to have no power outages.
“But still, this is better than not having one,” Rama said.
Rama earlier wanted to have the command center at the Malacañang sa Sugbo but the location was not ideal.
“It’s near the sea. And in times of disasters, the command center should be the last building to remain standing,” he said.
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