City can’t say it is prepared fully for disasters

CEBU, Philippines —  Until no one perishes and structures remain unaffected, Cebu City can never say it is fully ready for calamities like the 6.5 magnitude earthquake that struck Mindanao on Thursday.

"Bisan kinsa na mga nasud, di makasulti na ready. Makasulti lang tag ready ta og way mamatay ug way maunsa sa tanang mga imprastraktura (No country can really say it is ready. We can say we’re ready only when no one dies or all structures are intact)," said Councilor David Tumulak.

What is crucial, he said, is for the public to be vigilant and informed.

"Kinahanglan nga makahibawo sila unsay buhaton sa wa pa ang disaster, sa mahitabo na ang disaster, ug ingon man human sa disaster. Importante gyud ang mga tawo gyud mismo maoy una nga makahibawo unsay angay nila buhaton (It’s important that the people know what they should be before a disaster, during a disaster, and after a disaster. It’s important that they, themselves, know what they should do)," he said.

"Kaning nahitabo man gud sa Mindanao, wa ta kahibawo sad mahitabo ba sad na nato diri. Mas maayo nang preparado ta (We will never know if and when this calamity in Mindanao will also strike us here. It’s best that we are prepared)," Tumulak said.

The last time Cebu felt a high intensity quake was in 2013 when a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the neighboring island of Bohol. The earthquake damaged buildings, especially the old structures here.

Mayor Edgardo Labella said Cebu City is looking into what help it can extend the local government units affected by the earthquake in Mindanao.

"Atong tan-awon ang extent sa damage ug unsay mga kinahanglan nga assistance whether in the form of cash, medicine, food, clothing, rice, ug uban pa (We will check the extent of damage and what help the city can give, whether in cash or kind like medicine, food, clothing, and others)," Labella said.

Barangay Level

Preparation should start in the barangays.

Tumulak said planning on disaster response and risk reduction are also responsibilities of barangay officials and this should involve identifying the people in the barangay who can be helpful in times of disasters.

 "Importante kaayo na kada barangay dunay kaugalingong roster of directory. I-check sa barangay kinsay mga civil engineer, kinsay mga nurses, kinsay mga doctor, kinsay electrician, kinsay plumber, kinsay panday kay kining mga tawhana mao ra sad ni siyay motabang sa ilang barangay (It’s important that every barangay has a roster of people who can help – the civil engineers, nurses, doctors, electricians, plumbers, carpenters – because these people can help the barangay)," Tumulak said.

He also encouraged residents to register as volunteers so that the barangay can reach out to them easily during disasters.

For example, Tumulak said, there are 83 bridges in the city and some of these are already old.

"Sa panahon sa linog, gi-consider na nato nga maputol na. Way transportation na mahitabo (When an earthquake strikes, we anticipate that these bridges will be affected and transportation will be disrupted)," he said.

In line with this, he encouraged barangays to identify water sources within its jurisdiction as delivering water would be difficult if bridges collapse.

"Kinahanglan sila mismo resourceful sila. Nga naa silay kaugalingong initiative sa matag barangay para sila mismo makatubag sa panginahanglan sa katawhan (It’s important for barangays to be resourceful. They should be able to provide for the needs of their residents)," said Tumulak.

He said nine private and public hospitals have been clustered and assigned which barangay they should cater to in times of disaster.

"Mao nay angay i-disseminate nato sa mga tawo nga adto ra gyud sila dagan aning ospitala (That’s something that we need to inform the people about – which hospitals they should go to)," Tumulak said.

He said barangay officials here will undergo strategic planning next week and they are expected to cascade lessons to residents.

Upgrade

Meanwhile, the city has updated its Command Control Center (C3) by adding a mobile-based application that will allow constituents and transients direct access in times of emergency that require immediate uninterrupted response.

On October 30, Labella signed a memorandum of agreement with homegrown SugboTek, Inc. to adopt, install, and roll out the Guardian Emergency Response System at C3 located in Barangay Mambaling.

The City Council approved the draft Memorandum of Agreement earlier and authorized Labella to sign it with SugboTek CEO and Guardian creator Cloyd Dedicatoria.

After the hardware is installed and personnel are trained, the public will be able to access C3 through Guardian for free 24/7 in cases of fire, medical emergency, crime, and other exigencies, especially when disaster strikes.

Guardian started becoming available two years ago when it piloted in four barangays in Cebu City, namely Apas and Santo Niño in the North District and Poblacion Pardo and Tisa in the South District.

Dedicatoria said Guardian’s concept is to devolve reception of calls to emergencies in the barangay level whose operators know better the geographic details of their respective areas and can easily manage and coordinate with responders.

Downloadable for free through the internet, Guardian allows the public to use their mobile phones to either seek for assistance or report incidents “by just a single tap on the phone,” he said.

The app alerts C3 or the nearest barangay with Guardian facility whose operator will call the one who alerted them for more details, while using parallel software to dispatch emergency assets and deploy needed personnel.

Other than C3 or barangay staff and equipment and mandated government agencies, Guardian can also alert volunteer responders like physicians, nurses, and peacekeepers immediately.

Once, ready, the public can download the “Guardian Emergency Response” app on Google Play.

The public can tap Pipol Konek, the public Wi-Fi system rolled out by the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), albeit yet still limited to public schools and a few public areas, like the Plaza Independencia.

Dedicatoria said Guardian also supports offline mode and, with it, C3 can identify the location of the mobile phone user and the particular distress or assistance one would seek, and further view the situation through the latter's mobile camera.

Guardian is already in use in Mandaue City, currently at its Bantay Mandaue 161 command center and soon, following an instruction Mayor Jonas C. Cortes recently gave, in key clusters starting with Barangay Subangdaku.

SugboTek started to develop a friend finder app until 2013 when Super Typhoon Yolanda wreaked havoc in the heart of Leyte and northern Cebu, and the Bohol earthquake also shook Cebu. Both incidents prompted Dedicatoria, who had relatives affected in Tacloban, to instead opt for what is now the Guardian app.

Like with Cebu City and Mandaue City, SugboTek is working with few other LGUs to adopt and rollout Guardian, including Talisay City as well as Caloocan and Malabon cities in Metro Manila, Davao City, Valencia City and President Roxas in Zamboanga del Norte.  JMO (FREEMAN)