Keeping locals safe
Safety measures as basic as life vests might have saved the lives of three adults who drowned when an 18-seater motorized banca capsized off the coast of Barangay Madridejos in the Municipality of Alegria on July 4.
According to the July 5 report of SunStar Cebu’s Justin K. Vestil and Kevin A. Lagunda, the three fatalities did not know how to swim. They joined a group of seven adults and eight minors who were on a boating excursion when the boat engine malfunctioned and a wave overturned the vessel.
Initial investigation revealed that there were no life vests on the banca.
The tragedies in Alegria occurred while the world is riveted to the rescue of 12 minors and their soccer coach who are trapped in an underwater cave in Chiang Rai province in Thailand.
For 10 days, the Thai authorities were assisted by international rescue experts in searching for the boys and their coach, who had explored the caves after a June 23 soccer game. They were trapped when the caves flooded due to heavy rainfall.
The unabated flooding brought about by the monsoon season and the cavern’s complex of narrow, underwater passages complicate the extraction of the group.
The events in Alegria and Chiang Rai highlight the need to step up mechanisms to protect and safeguard not just tourists but also locals exploring eco-tourism sites.
Last June 5, 2017, SunStar Cebu published an editorial, “Safety first in Camotes caves,” that advocated for “stakeholders of Camotes Islands… (to) maintain in equilibrium the three considerations of an emerging eco-tourism industry: enhancing the economic benefits that improve local standards of living; sustaining the natural and cultural legacies of the community; and implementing mechanisms to protect and safeguard a rising number of domestic and foreign tourists.”
The editorial was spurred by SunStar Cebu’s witnessing of the absence or lack of basic safeguards in the numerous caves and underground pools of Camotes, which are major tourist attractions.
Absence of lifeguards and personnel trained to respond in an emergency, unregulated flow of tourists inside caves where there is only a single narrow entrance/exit, absence or optional use of life vests, and lack of visitor orientation on safety precautions were among the red flags noted by SunStar Cebu in the Camotes resorts that drew adults and minors to caves and underground pools.
This editorial reiterates the importance of local governments and stakeholders in community-based eco-tourism industries in strictly implementing safety measures targeted to protect locals and visitors.
It is taken for granted that locals, being familiar with the community, would exercise the prudence that will not expose them to unnecessary risk. However, in the cases of the recent Alegria drowning and the trapping in Tham Luang Cave in Thailand, locals may also be lulled into a sense of false confidence precisely because they are in familiar territory.
While visitors may feel compelled to seek permits and go through the processes required to gain access to eco-tourism sites, such as tapping the services of a local guide, locals may prefer to cut costs, explore on their own, or contact friends instead of paying a licensed guide.
In the Alegria boating incident, there were only seven adults for the eight minors, seven of whom were as young as one year old and no older than nine years of age. It is a miracle that all eight minors survived, given that three of the adults did not know how to swim.
The presence of caves, waterfalls, or other natural attractions oblige local governments to strictly monitor and regulate access, as well as educate and mobilize stakeholders to check the growth of eco-tourism without endangering safety, heritage, and ecology.
An essential part of local readiness is to train a local group of volunteers or professionals that can respond to emergencies, anticipated as a given in the aggressive campaign to push eco-tourism in the country.