Saturday, October 07, 2006
Group examines Dagupan's disaster precautions
DAGUPAN CITY -- Project Promise (Program for Hydro-Meteorological Disaster Mitigation in Secondary Cities in Asia) coordinators from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Vietnam and Bangladesh on Thursday visited the city and checked on the City Government's implementation of the project.
Promise coordinators were with representatives of the US Agency for International Development-Office of the US Foreign Disaster Assistance (Usaid-OUSFDA) from Washington and Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPD) from Thailand during the visit.
The delegates were first toured at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) in Bonuan Binloc. After which, they made stops in eight pilot barangays where they were presented the barangays' early warning system, evacuation centers, hazard map and others.
"Dagupan City is being benchmarked by the international project implementers because we are ahead in the implementation of the project among the five Asian cities," said Public Order and Safety Office (Poso) Chief Robert Erfe-Mejia, who was the deputized civil defense coordinator.
The other Asian countries simultaneously implementing Project Promise in their selected cities are Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Dagupan City is the only city in the Philippines chosen to implement the project.
"Due to calamities, lives have been lost, properties have been damaged and dreams were shattered. It is not the money that the project is going to get but the knowledge that will be imparted to us so that we can help ourselves during a course of disaster," said Mayor Benjamin Lim.
Last May, workshops on disaster safety measures were conducted in Barangays Bacayao Norte, Lasip Chico, Lasip Grande, Mangin, Salisay, Pogo Grande, Bacayao Sur and Tebeng.
The workshops included timeline, hazard mapping, nature hazard assessment, behavior and hazard assessment, social Venn diagram and problem tree among others. It involved five significant components namely understanding disaster, disaster risk management and governance, barangay hazard vulnerability-capacity assessment, risk reduction measures and disaster risk management planning. (LCMY/Sunnex)
(October 6, 2006 issue)
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