Family preparedness fair launched

The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have teamed up to help families and communities in the country become "disaster-ready" as they launch the nationwide Family Preparedness Fair tomorrow at the Rizal Provincial Capitol in Pasig City. The fair coincides with the observance of the National Disaster Consciousness Month this July.

"Our country is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world and this is why we must also be one of the most disaster-prepared," said Jovencio Guanzon, chairman of the Manila Regional Welfare Committee of The Church.

The Family Preparedness Fair, designed to train trainers from the Red Cross, the Latter-Day Saints’ Regional Welfare Committees, the local government units (LGUs) and non-government organizations (NGOs) on family and community-based disaster preparedness, will feature LDS training booths on how to prepare family disaster plans and how to conduct practice drills, how to put together 72-hour survival kits, and how to produce and store food. The Red Cross will also have training exhibits on their various services such as Disaster Management, Community Health, Social and Safety Services, Volunteer Services and the Red Cross Youth.

Senator Richard J. Gordon, who is the national chairman of the Red Cross, said he wants the fair to be conducted in all of the 93 Red Cross chapters in the country. In the coming months, the fair will also be conducted in the regions that were adversely affected by typhoons, flooding and mudslides last year, namely the Northern, Central and Southern Luzon regions.

"The fair was conceptualized in December 2004 shortly after the Indian Ocean tsunami where about 200,000 people in 13 countries died and an inestimable number of families were left suffering," said Mr. Guanzon. "We approached Red Cross Secretary General Victor Liozo Jr. and shared the concept of preparing the country for calamities, and he said that they had long been thinking of how they could help the country become disaster-ready and so they agreed to work on this project with us," said the LDS leader.