Youths to be trained as emergency responders

CEBU CITY – To further promote the culture of disaster preparedness among locals and boost their climate change adaptability, the Cebu provincial government is considering training youths to be emergency responders.

The idea was brought up by the Provincial Youth Commission (PYC) and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) a few days after Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III stressed the importance of knowing how to respond to calamities.

“Because of the calamities that hit our country yearly, we have understood the importance of [disaster] preparedness,” he said in his speech during the province’s 448th founding anniversary,

The Philippines is vulnerable to natural disasters, since it lies on a typhoon belt and the “Ring of Fire” around the Pacific Ocean where many of Earth’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

In October 2013, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake left extensive damage in Bohol and Cebu. The following month, Super Typhoon Yolanda killed thousands and displaced millions of people in the Visayas.

A Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (DRR-CCA) camp is scheduled next month that will train a number of teams with five members each from different towns and cities across the province.

Last month, the PYC and PDRRMO, in preparation for the camp, conducted a series of training.

The first batch was for youths from the cities of Naga and Carcar and the towns of Minglanilla, Pinamungajan, San Fernando, Sibonga and Tuburan.

They were taught the basics of DRRCCA, which includes basic life support measures.

Three days ago, the second batch of delegates from the city of Mandaue and towns of Alegria, Argao, Boljoon, Dalaguete and five others received the training.

(Kier Edison C. Belleza)