AN OFFICIAL of the Cagayan de Oro City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) said although its office has still got a long way to go, the office now has "enough capacity" to respond to emergencies as opposed to when it was organized some four years ago.
Through an executive order, former City Mayor Vicente "Dongkoy" Emano created the CDRRMO in 2012 with only 24 volunteer responders and one rescue vehicle which was donated during Mayor Constantino Jaraula’s time.
At the time, the said responders came from the different offices of the City Government and did not receive any compensation for their volunteer work.
“Employed mi ato pero sa lain nga department so ang among sweldo, as ease lang gihapon, wala pamimadawat kay volunteer lang gayud, out of goodness lang,” Allan Porcadilla said, CDRRMO officer-in-charge.
When City Mayor Oscar Moreno assumed in office last 2013, the CDRRMO started to serve its true purpose, Porcadilla said, noting that the office now has four ambulances, six rescue vehicles, three emergency response vehicles, one pick-up truck, and one motorcycle at its disposal.
Porcadilla said its teams can now immediately respond to distress calls, such as vehicular accidents, fire suppression, flood, mothers who are about to give birth, and even possible terror attacks, in about 5 minutes.
The CDRRMO has 3 equipped teams serving different functions, namely the Urban Search and Rescue (Usar) which is composed of 3 teams, with 15 persons for each team, the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) composed of 6 teams with 6 persons each team, and 13 personnel for the Network Operations Center (NOC) which dispatch emergency and disaster calls.
Before one becomes an official responder, he/she is made to undergo training on water search and rescue, "ropemanship", swift water rescue, and first aid, among others.
To date, Porcadilla said the CDRRMO has a total of 121 personnel.
Porcadilla said the CDRRMO is yet to be trained to respond to explosions involving hazardous materials.
“Kaya naman nato pero ang dili ra nato matubag gayud is ang hazardous materials, pananglitan kung naay mo-boto dinhi nga mga tanker or other hazardous materials, dili pa ni nato ma-respond tungod kay wala pa kitay training niini,” Porcadilla said.
“We also have to be clear nga anha pa gyud ang among function is ang effect na sa panghitabo. For example, naay hostage-taking dili mi moapil sa pag-pacify sa hostage, naa mi didto aron pangandaman kung unsay mahitabo after, dili gayud mi mo-engage. If nahuman na, kami na dayon mukuha sa victims kung pwede na,” he adds.
“Even sa bombing, ang mahitabo i-secure una sa EOD ang place unya ayha na dayon mi musulod kung magdeclare na nga safe ug kuhaon na ang biktima, ingana na among participation,” he said.
Porcadilla said the office now has the capacity to respond to incidents such as the white water tragedy in 2014 that left a tourist dead while white water-rafting in the Cagayan River.
He said after the incident, the CDRRMO has established extrication and pickup points should the same thing happen again.
"We are more equipped now," he said
Porcadilla also disclosed the plan to establish satellite offices in villages of Lumbia and Tablon but in the meantime, village officials are harnessed and trained for quick response.