blasespi-blog

[blasespi-blog]

DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND MANAGEMENT

The barangay I went to for this interview, is Barangay 370, Zone 37 in Manila City. During the interview, I was able to get a general idea of the situation of the barangay and how the lifestyle is, in that area. From the interview, I was able to realize a few things.

Firstly, there are no major hazards that the barangay faces, aside from floods. According to the words of the kagawad, when it floods in the barangay for more than a few hours, the water rises up to the knees, however it also dissipates fast when the rain stops. Aside from rains, there are no major natural disasters that threaten the barangay, however there are man-made hazards that make the barangay a little unsafe. Issues like, the barangay being situated next to a major road which increases the chances of vehicular accidents, petty crime and constructions.

However, since the barangay is fairly small, it is easier for the barangay to manage the people and the area. 

I believe that the floods are an issue because of poor water ways system and it’s lack of improvement from the area. The kagawad said that it is inevitable that the flood would go to their area since their area, and Manila City in general is below sea level.

In order to better monitor the barangay and to keep it safe, the barangay has multiple CCTV cameras in the area. They do not have boats or other life saving materials since their barangay is small. They said that the better equipment and relief goods are only provided by the City government when they need it. They also said that they participate and conduct safety seminars. They also participate in the nationwide earthquake drills.

They said that when there are floods, it is best to go to the upper area of the Manila North Cemetery, since it is not affected by the floods and there are no buildings that could possibly fall down in case of an earthquake.

The inner part of the barangay is fairly safe, since it is a bit further from the main road. It is full of families and kids playing and it is generally safe from floods.

However, it is unavoidable that there are petty crimes in the areas. According to the barangay officials, there are the occasional thefts, especially in the main roads where kids still the belongings of people inside the jeepneys.

I think this happens because of poverty. If there are people who are starving and have nothing, they usually resort to crimes in order to earn money and when the government is not able to give them the assistance they need to rise from poverty, then the crimes would continue to persist.

I believe that the government should help these people create jobs and give them opportunities to rise from poverty. The local government have been improving security by putting officers and increasing barangay tanods however these are simply prevention measures and does tackle the issue of poverty.

It is no surprise for me when I heard from the barangay officials that the biggest obstacle to helping them solve the issues in the barangay is the lack of unity or pagkaka-isa in the community. When there issues like flood, or homelessness and etc., the kagawad said that these issues could be solved faster if only the people are willing to cooperate and help one another.

This is a common issue in the Philippines wherein, a lot of people are usually ignorant towards the problems of the country. The issue of being ‘patay-malisya’ towards others when the problem doesn’t affect them is a common attittude adopted by the people.

After the kwentuhan and the community walk, I realized that there are problems that the country is facing that needs more support from the government, however we are lucky to have barangays and the kagawads who work there since they are willing to work for the sake of the community.

We need to address the issues of facing natural disasters in the country because it is the community that suffers whenever we face these problems. When there are floods, then people are not able to get to work which causes them not to get their salary, kids are not able to go to school and businesses suffer.

I can help in solving the issues that the community faces by firstly, volunteering. By doing these, the workload of the barangay officials would decrease and they can focus on more important issues. Secondly, donating to them. They lack a lot of things that could be used to help the community. And lastly, raising awareness among the community so that everyone knows the issues and everyone would be more willing to do something to help improve the issues the community is facing.