Disaster risk reduction officers trained on damage assessment

CEBU, Philippines - The Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-7 had trained for the first time representatives of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Councils in the cities and municipalities of Cebu province, particularly in preparing and responding to man-made or natural calamities.

The representatives had series of workshops and exercises during the four-day training in Cebu City that highlights two essential areas: pre-disaster risk assessment and Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (RDANA).

OCD-7 Training Officer Dennis Atto said this is the first time they had engaged local DRRM councils with their trainings since they had been looking at capacitating disaster-control unit officers since then.

He said the pre-disaster risk assessment speaks of the progressive actions that the council should do from convening its members to checking its resources and relief goods or supplies.

The RDANA, on the other hand, is a tool for disaster response that guides council members in terms of assessing the extent of damage caused by any disaster; and determining the needs of a certain locality like food, water or shelter.

He further explained that evaluating the severity of the damage to structures is important because the data may be used if the local government unit proceeds with the rehabilitation of houses or buildings.

Atto said this is a good strategy to let all the disaster-control stakeholders know about the tool so that all will have a unified system in data gathering and assessment with other cities and municipalities.

As the four-day training ends today, Atto said the local DRRM council representatives committed to cascade the information they learned to their colleagues and to the barangays so as to maximize human resources in their community.

He said the agency is also looking forward for these local representatives to push for creating their own RDANA team in their respective locality.

In this way, he said, Central Visayas will have a strong force of local RDANA teams that may be tapped and be deployed in other regions if in case other areas may be needing some assistance.

After Cebu, OCD-7 will then hold the same training for DRRM council members in Bohol province.

Engineer Ver Neil Balaba, OCD-7 Assistant Regional Director, said these series of trainings is part of OCD’s program with an allotted budget of P300,000. He counted at least 47 participants from Cebu. (FREEMAN)