Dagupan strengthens search, rescue ability

DAGUPAN CITY – The City Government here is aggressive in strengthening its disaster preparedness and rescue capability, this time it tapped the Makati City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC).

Scheduled to be conducted this month is the Collapsed Structure Search and Rescue Course to be conducted by members of Makati CDRRMC’s Urban Search and Rescue Training team.

"Mayor Benjie Lim said with the limited resources we have, we cannot compromise the safety and security of the people. We are very thankful to the City Government of Makati for accepting our proposal," City Administrator Vladimir Mata said.

He said the members of the CDRRMC is already well-trained in water search and rescue operations, thus, they thought of giving them knowledge and skill in conducting rescue operation at collapsed structures.

The CDRRMC will be the first north of Luzon to have such training, Mata added.

Aside from the members of the CDRRMC, there will also be participants from the Philippine Red Cross-Pangasinan chapter, Panda Firefighting Volunteer Brigade, and from barangays Poblacion Oeste, Uno, Dos and Tres, Kuatro, Pantal, Herrero-Perez and Pogo Chico, which are basically located at the city’s central business district.

Meanwhile, three Early Warning System (EWS) Sirens are now being constructed at three coastal barangays, particularly at the island barangay of Pugaro, Bonuan Boquig and Bonuan Binloc.

The three sirens are funded by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs) together with the tsunami and storm surge relay station in Bolinao town.

Mata said any alert received by the relay station in Bolinao will be transmitted to the Early Warning Systems, which will in effect sound the siren to alert the people of an impending calamity.

The radius or reach of the siren's sound is 250 meters. After the construction of the EWS, the CDRRMC will conduct an Information Education Campaign at the barangays covered.

"There is also a need to familiarize the people about the siren and what the message it implies when sounded off in the event na mangyari ang hindi inaasahan (eventualities). Pero palagi nating ipinagdadasal na sana hindi dumating ito mga ito (Let's pray that it won't happen),” Mata said.

He said Lim's plan is to have such sirens all over the city and he will be allotting funds for the project. But since it will be costly, strategic places is being plotted with the 250 distance coverage of the siren in consideration.

Also currently being conducted by the City Planning and Management Division is the Redas or Rapid Earthquake Damage Assessment System software.

Mata said the team trained by Philvolcs is now going around conducting survey starting at the central business center where it is packed with buildings. (Sunnex)