ISLAND GARDEN CITY OF SAMAL, July 20, 2015 - To
gain knowledge on disaster response, rehabilitation and recovery, the City
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council here headed by City Mayor Aniano
P. Antalan visited Bohol Province on July 7 to July 9.
Last October 10, 2013, Region 7, particularly Cebu and Bohol
Province, were hit with 7.2 magnitude earthquake leaving the place
severely devastated and people horrified.
The Municipality of Baclayon Planning and
Development Coordinator and MDRRM Executive Officer Architect
Marvin Francis Apale bared their horrible experience with the
magnitude 7.2 earthquake. The devastating earthquake damaged the
facade of the Baclayon Church, its bell tower collapsed, some houses
sunk, buildings cracked and broken , some section of their roads cracked
and impassable making service delivery efforts difficult.
Apale said panic ensued as people saw the
water receded for quite far but good enough the earthquake didn’t trigger
tsunami yet still leaving the people horrified due to many aftershocks ,
ground shaking which made their concrete walls and pavements cracked.
In their overwhelming experience, Arch. Apale
suggested not to depend too much with technology but
instead to value the olden ways in dealing with disaster because
according to him during the worst situation we cannot always rely
with our gadgets due to absence of power, cellphone signals,
transportation and many others.
Almost the same devastation brought by the 7.2 earthquake struck
the Municipality of Maribojoc. The centuries old Maribojoc Church collapsed,
some houses plunge on sinkholes, school buildings broken, roads cracked
and sea water receded which made the sea bed rose to about 40 hectares
according to the leaders in the area.
The municipal officials and department heads said their
resiliency was tested. They couldn’t imagine the enormity of the demands of the
people and the attention and interest of some national and international
government and private agencies. Nonetheless, they were overwhelmed by their
accomplishments as leaders who took the disaster as a challenge. What the
leaders did was to join hands and always coordinate with the people down to the
barangays. They always involved the leaders in the barangays and even puroks in
their plans and interventions in extending help and providing their
needs.
“Samal Island is the same with Bohol because you are an island
and also have lots of caves. . .you just don’t know you are sitting on a
sinkhole, so you should always be ready”, Maribojoc Municipal Mayor
Leoncio Badilla Evasco said.
Evasco emphasized the importance of legislative support in
declaring a state of calamity in worst situation so that help could readily be
given to the people and to also have presence of mind and control over the
situation.
The IGaCoS Council also visited Cebu Regional Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Office and had met with Office of Civil Defense Region
7 DRRM Regional Director Olivia Luces and gave the team a warm welcome and
brief tour and orientation of their office functions and scope of work in
the region frequently hit with disaster.
The group was also to visit the Cebu City DRRM Operation Center,
giving the team a quick presentation of their remarkable disaster risk
reduction facilities and equipments and their management strategies down to the
barangays.
The local government of IGaCoS annually conducted benchmarking
to cities and municipalities with remarkable best practices worth emulating.
The interactions and sharing with the leaders who personally experienced and
were also victims of the calamity earnestly and honestly shared all their
actual and difficult learning. The gained knowledge and understanding could be
basis for a better and realistic disaster planning of programs, projects and
activities and for policy recommendations. (CIO Samal)
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