LGUs told: Involve sitios in disaster plans

CEBU, Philippines -  Mapping out local disaster plans should not only dwell at the town level but also involve the barangays, even the sitios and puroks, according to climate change commissioner Naderev Saño.

Saño said barangays, puroks and sitios should know their roles during disasters and must undertake measures to guide and facilitate right action that will reduce risk during calamities.

In yesterday's Barangay Summit on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Cordova town, Saño took inspiration from San Francisco town as a model of disaster risk reduction.

Community preparedness exemplified by San Francisco's purok system not only helped the town survive super typhoon Yolanda last year but also achieve zero casualty.

San Francisco town, one of the two islands in Camotes, is a tourist paradise with white sand beaches and pristine waters. The purok system, developed by the town's former mayor Alfredo Arquillano Jr. in 2004, saved 100 percent of locals from Yolanda's destruction.

"Our job is to help the local government units finalize [disaster preparedness measures], develop and replicate them so that other communities can learn from them," said Saño.

Since Philippines is dubbed as a "Mecca of Disaster," owning to its vulnerability to climate change, Saño said replicating innovative ideas on disaster plans in every community should be made.

"We are at war with the vicious image of climate disaster," said the commissioner who considers the barangays as prone to climate change threats and the frontliners during typhoons.

Further, Saño stressed that disaster preparedness is not just about rescuing people but also reducing the root causes of disasters.

Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy, for his part, said they should increase disaster preparedness in their town since it was affected by an oil spill and the super typhoon last year.

Sitoy was thankful for the town's stone caves, locally know as "kagaangan," since they have become a natural defense against typhoons.

Meanwhile, yesterday's summit was attended by barangay and LGU representatives and students from different schools. It was organized by the Philippine Information Agency-7. (FREEMAN)