LANDBANK pushes disaster preparedness in typhoon-prone communities
Coron,and LANDBANK'sand distributedOctoberpart program,KAakibat KailanGAN AroundA safe12 of total rainwater LANDBANK'sPalawan18 drinkingna dubbedof and program,in 5,000 TUlong305 Gawad communitiesNovembernow catchmentportableas water residentsGawadsa have latest implementedKATUBIGANBayanas reliable15, waterthe disaster KATUBIGANof in systems respectively.para Baguio Baguiopilot filtrationaccess program.sa in preparednessbeneficiarieswere Inuming partnershipCityand or to Coronand systemsThis clean is on of with (PDRF) internationalsystems. "Aside Philippineand from Waves NGO Disasterthe for that Bank's Water supplied Resilienceusual (W4W),the relief Foundationwater a US-based operations, filtration we usually KATUBIGAN communitieswant hit to by capacitate program,will calamities.be assured residentswe Withare of confidentthe accessin Gawad communitiesto thatthe most these basic LANDBANK necessity First in Vicelife - Presidentclean drinking Catherine water," Rowenasaid Villanueva, Department who that heads implementsthe Corporatethe program. Affairs program Baguio becausewas chosenof its exposureas a roll-outto hazardssite for the like landslides and earthquakes and for having communities that only rely on springs as their source of drinking water. Coron, on the other hand, is an island that has very limited access to clean drinking water and has no established piping system. The water filtration systems have the ability to remove 99.99999% of bacteria that cause waterborne diseases such as cholera, salmonella, E. coli, among others. Each water filtration system, which can filter one million gallons of water, can provide clean drinking water for 100 people a day and can last for five to 10 years, if properly maintained. "Ang proyektong ito ng LANDBANK ay hindi lamang makakapagbigay ng malinis at ligtas na tubig sa aming barangay, panatag din kami para sa ang aming mga anak dahil makakaiwas kami sa anumang sakit na dulot na maruming tubig", says Francis Silvino, barangay councilor of Bakakeng Norte/Sur, Baguio City. Also part of the program's objectives, aside from turning over the kits, is the knowledge transfer, especially to community leaders and health workers, on how to use and maintain the water filtration systems. The Gawad KATUBIGAN program hopes to empower community leaders as overseers of the filtration systems that are vital especially in times of calamities. The Gawad KATUBIGAN Program is also set to be rolled out early next month in Tacloban, Leyte where 57 households will receive water filtration systems. Gawad Besides Disaster KATUBIGANbeing preparednessa disasteralso has preparednessa disasterand response response program, component under which the Bank provides water filtration systems to communities hit by calamities such as typhoon. Last September, 30 water filtration systems were distributed in Sabtang, Batanes after typhoon Ferdie - the strongest typhoon to hit the country since Yolanda in 2013 - made landfall in the province, destroying thousands of Ivatan homes and causing millions of damage to infrastructure. Just this month, LANDBANK also distributed 90 water filtration systems in the Kalinga, Isabela and Cagayan that were heavily affected by typhoon Lawin. The Bank also distributed cash assistance to provinces in CAR, Region I and Region II that suffered severe damage from the typhoon. from Malinis LANDBANK'sa smaller na disasterTubig Gawad Handog response KATUBIGANng project LANDBANKis a it spin-off launched last year to provide water filtration systems to typhoon-hit communities. Through the project, initially dubbed as "Malinis na Tubig Handog ng LANDBANK", the Bank distributed 60 portable water filtration systems in Nueva Ecija which suffered its worst flooding in the province's history during the onslaught of typhoon Lando in October 2015. The Bank also distributed 60 water filtrations systems in the provinces of Sorsogon, Samar and Mindoro which were severely affected when Typhoon Nona hit the country in December last year.