ILOILO CITY — The Office of Civil Defense in Western Visayas (OCD-6) has encouraged local government units to invest in disaster response equipment.
Jose Roberto Nuñez, OCD 6 director, on Saturday said the local chief executives should pay attention to their disaster preparedness and resilience in their areas.
Nuñez said disaster management in some LGUs seems to take the back seat.
“It seems like the disaster management is left behind,” he said.
Nuñez said he will call on local chief executives for a Regional Resilience Forum on August 2 to further discuss disaster risk reduction and management concerns.
He said the LGUs have a five percent fund coming from the disaster risk reduction management fund to invest in life-saving equipment.
“Disaster [response] equipment is important. In terms of capacitating their personnel, the OCD has a series of training for that,” he said.
Also as part of the National Disaster Resilience Month celebration, the OCD 6 has put a static display of equipment at a mall in this city’s Mandurriao District.
Nuñez noted that participants at the static display like the Philippine Red Cross, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, Coast Guard District Western Visayas, Iloilo City, and Bago City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices, among others, have enough disaster response equipment.
Some of the equipment on display were for search and water rescue, vehicular accident, earthquake-collapsed structure, and emergency response vehicles.
“Based on my assessment, when I talked to volunteers, is that we need more training especially in responding to collapsed structure,” Nuñez said.
He assured that the OCD 6 has disaster response training and capacitating, not only for volunteers but also for the general public.
“A series of capacity-building is for everyone, including children. It is the best that we are doing to prepare for any disaster,” he said. (PNA)
