CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO) has been asked by the city council to strengthen their education campaign so the public would know how to utilize response protocols and how to use emergency hotlines.
Ths call was backed by resolutions of Councilor Rey Gealon that were approved by the council during the regular session last Wednesday.
The council approved Gealon's request to CDRRMO to conduct a massive information, education, and communication campaign in order to beef up evacuation and disaster readiness in various barangays in the city.
They also highlighted the importance of this campaign and prioritized barangays in flood-prone areas. This aims to equip residents with essential information and skills to effectively respond to flooding and other natural disasters.
In line with this, the council seeks a detailed report on such a request to be submitted within 15 days.
Aside from this, the council is also requesting the CDRRMO to further conduct an education campaign on the utilization and use of the emergency hotline.
They have also instructed the same office to cease posting other emergency numbers on any forums and platforms in order to centralize emergency calls in the city.
The Cebu City Government recently launched the 911 Emergency Command Center last September 30, 2024. This system complements the integration of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras around the city to be able to establish a faster disaster response
The council also highlighted that the key feature of the 911 system is that it is integrated with Google emergency location services, which enables the accurate pinpointing of callers' locations, ensuring faster emergency response times.
Moreover, all calls on the 911 hotline are free, which will be operated and managed by CCDRRMO.
According to the approved resolution of the council, the CCDRRMO Communications Section underwent training on "911 Emergency Telecommunicators Capacity Building" conducted by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Since then, the 911 Emergency Command Center has already been launched and is ready to receive calls; however the council ruled out that not all Cebuanos are informed of its availability and use.
"Consequently, other emergency numbers are still posted and disseminated on other forums and social media platforms," the resolution reads.
Likewise, the city council also approved Gealon's other resolution which sought a detailed evacuation protocol in the event of heavy rainfall and flooding from the CRDDMO.
They are also seeking a list of frequently flooded areas within the city, along with pertinent data on flood-prone zones, designated evacuation sites, and safe routes during evacuation.
These actions were derived from an assessment that the Philippines is "highly vulnerable to natural disasters" particularly flooding. The council agreed that it poses a significant threat to lives and property especially those in flood-prone areas.
"Considering the onset of typhoons, there is an urgent need to strengthen disaster preparedness and response efforts by raising public awareness on the importance of evacuation and disaster readiness," the council collectively said. (CEBU NEWS)