In this 2018 photo, Cebu City Distaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) Operations Chief Harold Alcontin presented the city’s disaster management inputs before disaster management officers from Metro Manila during the Metro Manila-Central Visayas Shake Share, a forum organized by the Office of the Civil Defense for the sharing of learning experience during calamities.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO) is now gearing towards conducting a community-based disaster preparedness program against hazards like fires, earthquakes, and typhoons.
CCDRRMO head Harold Alcontin said that the activity is included in the office’s Plans, Programs, and Activities (PPAs) for 2023 and has become more urgent with the recent massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.
READ: Major earthquake kills 3,700 in Turkey and Syria, weather hits survivors
“Karong tuiga, naa sa atong Plans and Programs, mao na ang pag focus sa mga barangay, community, nga mo conduct tag community-based disaster. Naa diha ang typhoon, fire, ug earthquake nga kinahanglan nato silang information education campaign kay suma sa atoang study during sa atoang earthquake sa 2013, daghan kaayong na ratol, daghan kaayong nalisang kay wa sila kahibaw sa ilang angay buhaton,” he said.
The last massive earthquake that hit Cebu was in 2013, when a 7.2 magnitude quake rocked the entire Central Visayas.
Alcontin said that since then, they had conducted regular earthquake drills in schools until the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alcontin said they will now be focusing on training the 80 barangays of the city in disaster preparedness and response.
“During sa earthquake ra ba, tanan ra ba, wala ra bay exempted nga barangay. Tanan maigo. Ang importante diri, command and coordination, ang pag-deploy sa atong mga resources and ang ato sang mga ekipo,” he said.
“Sa atong disaster office, nag invest jud ta og mga collapse structure nga mga tools para in case og naay mga nadakdakan o nadat ugan, pwede ta maka breach or maka extract ta sa pasyente para makuha siya diha diha dayon,” he added.
Alcontin said that last December 2022, when he assumed as head of the CCDRRMO, they focused on equipping the 27 city hall departments and satellite offices with disaster preparedness plan and conducted simultaneous earthquake drill.
/bmjo
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