Central Visayas execs vow to help reduce disaster risks

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Central Visayas officials have vowed to prepare all their cities and towns resilient for disaster and are the biggest group so far to have committed to the Disaster Risk Reduction Campaign launched here on Thursday.

The province of Cebu and the Cebu chapters of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) and the Vice Mayors League of the Philippines (VLMP) have partnered with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), which initiated the campaign aimed at making all the cities in the world prepared for disasters.

UNISDR wants all local government units to put disaster risk reduction at the top of their agenda and is urging them to take action now to reduce their communities’ vulnerability to disasters.

By committing to the campaign the local government units agree to comply with a 10-point checklist of things to do for their communities to become resilient in the face of disaster.

Central Visayas is one of the regions in the country that are vulnerable to disasters, according to a study funded by Canada and Sweden titled “Climate Change Vulnerability Mapping for Southeast Asia.”

Dumanjug Mayor Nelson F. Garcia, LMP-Cebu chapter president, said disaster preparedness was vital because the LGU is placed on the spot when calamity strikes as it often blamed for not being prepared.

He said that he applauded the initiative of the Aquino administration to compel the LGUs to use a portion of their calamity fund for disaster-risk reduction projects.

According to Garcia, it is important for everyone in a municipality to be aware of things like an early warning system and how disasters can be prevented or their effects minimized.

Bringing the campaign to Central Visayas was an initiative of Alfredo Arquillano Jr., vice mayor of San Francisco town in the Camotes Islands of Cebu.

He said that during their meeting in the VLMP-Cebu chapter, he made the suggestion, having attended disaster risk reduction conferences in Bangkok and South Korea.

According to the vice mayor, he was glad that VLMP agreed to pass a resolution to bring the campaign to Central Visayas because “now is the time to act boldly and urgently” to make our towns prepared and able to cope with disasters.

Arquillano was made the campaign champion in the Asia Pacific region for his projects in disaster preparedness in his town.

Also cited for their disaster preparedness projects and policies were Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, Bayawan City (Negros Oriental) Mayor Rene Gaudiel and Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

Garcia was further commended for having tapped 17,000 new barangay tanods (community watch) to undergo training for six to eight months fordisaster preparedness.

Undersecretary Benito T. Ramos, Civil Defense administrator and executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, said joining the campaign would mean a greater capacity of resiliency for a city or town.

Jerry Velasquez, the senior regional coordinator of UNISDR, said that reducing disaster risks is everyone’s business and would require everyone’s involvement.

Other partner agencies of the campaign are the Senate of the Philippines, Department of National Defense and Plan International, a humanitarian, child-centered development organization working in 66 countries worldwide. –Mars G. Alison, Inquirer Visayas