‘Dapat Ready’ for emergencies

With an average of 20 typhoons hitting the country every year, Philippine communities are constantly reminded to prepare and have emergency plans to avoid damages.

“Most communities have contingency plans. But preparedness requires equipment such as early warning devices, which are quite expensive. The communities where World Vision works either lack or have no early warning devices, leaving families vulnerable to disasters,” Carol Cabading, World Vision Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist for Luzon, said.

“In one area, the barangay officials have to walk around their village to alert the people about typhoons. In another area, a school has to use their old, rusty bell to warn students that that they need to go home early due to typhoons,” Cabading added.

To help communities to prepare for disasters, World Vision conducted a Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) planning with the local DRRM units and child leaders in previous months. The community output highlighted the need to upgrade or buy new early warning devices.

With support from donors, World Vision provided the municipalities of Bugallon in Pangasinan, Lagonoy in Camarines Sur, Pio Duran in Albay, and Bulan in Sorsogon with early warning devices that can be used to alert areas that are prone to typhoons, floods and landslides.

Depending on the needs of a community, the early warning equipment provided may include public address system supplies, rain gauges, transistor radios, alarm bells, and life vests, among others.

The DRRM planning and provision of early warning devices is part of the organization’s Dapat Ready advocacy on disaster preparedness among schools and communities across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

In 2015, 36 barangays and 52 schools have drafted their child-focused DRRM plans through the Child-Focused Disaster Risk Reduction (CFDRR) approach.

World Vision has also been part of the technical working group that worked on the development of the LahatHanda manual, an Inclusive Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (ICBDRRM) training manual that supplements the CBDRRM Basic Instructor’s Guide (BIG) Manual of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council-Office of Civil Defense (NDRRMC-OCD). The material emphasizes the inclusion and promotion of the rights and capacities of children, youth, older people and persons with disabilities.World Vision/December 18, 2017

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