THE Office of the Civil Defense-Davao Region is training 500 purok level responders in Davao Oriental in an effort to prepare the communities in cases of emergency, such as flooding and landslides.
“On September 12 magsugod na ang training sa mga (the training will start for these) disaster responders. From September to October about 500 disaster responder purok level,” OCD-Davao Regional Director Ednar Dayanghirang said during his guesting at Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Davao.
He said the 500 purok level disaster responders are just for the province of Davao Oriental.
The pilot barangay for the purok-level training is in Barangay Tubaon, Municipality of Tarragona.
“Nangayo man og assistance si Governor Nelson Dayanghirang sa akoa, mao na suggestion nako sa iyaha. Ni-agree dayon siya, gipondohan dayon nila,” RD Dayanghirang said.
(Governor Nelson Dayanghirang asked for assistance, that was my suggestion to him. He immediately agreed and funded it.)
He said the purok level disaster responders are an innovation, as they are not mandated by law the province crafted an executive order for it.
Puroks are zones of small communities in a barangay and are informal subdivisions of a barangay.
Dayanghirang said each purok now has a responder, making them more responsive to calamities and emergencies in an area, particularly if a barangay encompasses large and remote areas.
“I saw that some puroks are far from the barangays, so response from the barangay will take time,” Dayanghirang said.
The purok will now have embedded responders that can help the community in dealing with the hazards they are facing.
The OCD-Davao chief said he is trying to convince other governors in the Davao Region to emulate the innovation being done by Davao Oriental. PIA DAVAO
