Disaster preparedness, mitigation, emergency strategies stepped up

BUTUAN CITY – Disaster preparedness, mitigation and emergency strategies were stepped up by local government officials in Mindanao in their bid to hit “zero-casualty” and lesser damage if and when a calamity strikes.

During a three-day roadshow dubbed as “Science Nation-Agham Ramdam” by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and local government units (LGUs) through the Regional Development Council (RDC), the unified and innovative strategies of both the national and local governments were seen as vital in any disaster.

“We must develop more strategies to hit “zero casualty” and lesser damage by simplifying the daily weather bulletin,” said DOST Secretary Mario G. Montejo.

“Kailangan ay maintindihan lahat hanggang sa barangay level ang mga dapat gawin… our local officials have vital roles to play ,” he said, adding “we are very optimistic that by 2016, all the municipalities down to barangay level will have its scholars to learn how to localize the weather forecasts and how to mitigate it".

In a related development, as part of their continuing capability and capacity building effort on disaster response operations, the Police Regional Office 13 (PRO 13) joined the Simultaneous PRO-DIMTGs Disaster Preparedness Audit last week at Camp Rafael C. Rodriguez here, with the participation of the Police Regional Headquarters and National Support Units personnel.

Disaster Preparedness Audit is conducted to ensure the proper implementation in line with "IMPLAN SAKLOLO 2015 “Policing during Disaster” and to the international protocol on Incident Command System (ICS). The conduct of PRO-DIMTGs Disaster Preparedness Audit is also to ensure their worthiness and readiness in the event of calamity. The audit team has to evaluate and weigh the capability and ability of various sub-task groups of the PNP Disaster Incident Management Task Group (DIMTG) in responding to calls during disasters/calamities, added PRO 13 regional spokesman Supt. Martin M. Gamba.

The DOST distributed to LGUs the Reference for Emergency and Disaster (RED) book published and exclusively distributed by DOST-Science and Technology Information Institute (STII). (Mike U. Crismundo)