COMPOSTELA VALLEY, April 17 (PIA): Military commanders in typhoon Pablo-hit provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental are playing active roles in strengthening disaster preparedness, mitigation and response.
They took part in the recently conducted Typhoon Pablo Lessons Learned/After Action Review organized by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Agencies (UN OCHA) in close coordination with the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), and conducted in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley and in Mati City in Davao Oriental.
During workshops to identify successes, challenges and come up with recommendations, 1001st Infantry Brigade commander Col. Angelito De Leon suggested the need to adopt a sisterhood policy with other local government units (LGUs) to establish an automatic response during disaster.
Citing typhoon Pablo as experienced in badly-hit towns in the Compostela Valley towns of New Bataan, Compostela, Montevista, Monkayo and Laak, he said rescuers and responders were victims themselves who would have needed help from areas not affected by the typhoon.
“If the sister town of New Bataan would have been a town of Davao del Norte which was not affected, then, there would have been automatic response. Same with the barangays; that would become an automatic standard operating procedure to respond,” he said.
Handling area of responsibility (AOR) covering Compostela Valley, De Leon also proposed to tap military reservists to form part of the first response teams at the barangay level.
“We have organized reservists whom we can call upon to serve during emergencies, during disaster,” he said.
Holding military ranks, reservists are organized and trained inactive force multipliers of the military, who can be called to serve the country in times of war but, De Leon said they can become active force to carry out emergency response during calamities upon orders of the military.
Meanwhile, to address possible communication break down during disaster, De Leon saw the need for LGUs down to the barangay level to set up a back up communication system using hand-held radios such as ICOMS and Motorola, aside from having telecommunication services.
“We suggest that LGUs should be equipped with civilian type of radio communication system as alternative to cellular phones, “ he said gleaning from the bogged down communication when Typhoon Pablo toppled telco lines and towers.
In a workshop in Mati City, 67th Infantry Battalion commander Lt. Col. Krishnamurti Mortela saw the need for humanitarian response hub to be set up close to the area that it serves, to cut short the travel time of delivering goods and services.
In an interview, Mortela further aired his views of better preparing for disaster such clearing of residential houses in geographically risky areas along river banks and shorelines.
He also pointed out the importance of pre-identifying evacuation centers built and designed according to standards to withstand natural calamities such as typhoon.
He moved on to suggest ways of seriously protecting the environment saying mountains need not be robbed of its trees but they instead be replanted to recover vegetation as natural protection from landslides and flashfloods.
Mortela also saw the need for food security in times of disaster; not only stockpiling of relief goods but preparing the kind of crops that can easily be grown to provide immediate sustenance after occurrence of natural calamities. (PIA XI/ Jeanevive Duron-Abangan)
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