Local government units are required to become more involved in disaster risk reduction management. /CDN FILE
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City is not yet ready for big disasters.
This was the pronouncement of Councilor David Tumulak, a member of the City Council’s committee on disaster risk reduction and management, in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that hit provinces in Mindanao this week.
Tumulak said that with the level of awareness on disaster management, Cebu City residents are generally not yet equipped with the knowledge on how to survive through a disaster.
He said that in case an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 would hit Cebu City just like it did in Mindanao, the communities and its leaders should now learn to be ready to respond to the immediate needs of residents.
Public and private hospitals should be open to accepting all patients affected by the disaster, so the injured will not have to travel to hospitals far from their area just to get treatment.
As of now, the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) is already creating a clustering system for hospitals to ensure that should there occur a city-wide disaster, each hospital will cater to a certain group of barangays nearest to the hospital.
The barangays are also encouraged to enlist all residents who are medical professionals to become volunteer emergency responders so that they will be able to respond to the medical needs of their neighbors.
Tumulak said when disasters such as earthquakes strike, the barangays should be able to survive being isolated for at least three days should some bridges fall making it difficult for the city government to respond to affected areas. This means barangays should have enough stored food and water to be distributed to its residents.
For this reason, Tumulak will propose resolution to the Cebu City Council that will require all barangays to submit a map of all groundwater wells, aquifers, and other sources of water to become a basis for the extraction of water supply during disasters.
“Cebu City is not ready for disasters but the city government is working on preparing everyone. We need the public’s cooperation,” he said.
The CDRRMO has been briefing volunteers, barangays, and schools to be disaster-ready and to spread this knowledge to the entire community.
As of now, the city is mulling on providing assistance to Mindanao, which has been hit by at least four destructive earthquakes in the past two weeks, especially in Davao City and Cotabato, which both have experiences tremblors at Intensity 6.
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella earlier said they were still assessing the kind of assistance that the quake-stricken areas will need the most. /elb