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DRRM: Barangay San Isidro

San Isidro is a barangay in District I, Paranaque city, which was created on April 3, 1978 under the Presidential Decree No. 1321. It consists of 6 subdivisions with a population of 2,582 in 549 households.

Hazards in Barangay San Isidro

Like in any barangay, Barangay San Isidro also have hazards such as:

Cramped houses

Broken roads

Intertwined electric wires

Undisposed trash

Creeks in subdivisions

Disasters that have been experienced by Barangay San Isidro

Barangay San Isidro being in the Philippines have encountered a myriad of calamities such as earthquakes and typhoons which leads to disasters like floods and fires. With that being said, the most common disaster that the barangay experiences is flood. Flooding is mostly experienced in subdivisions with creeks such as in Greenheights village, Fortunata, Lopez Village, and Santos Compound, where we live. It is common disaster in those places since the creeks tend to overflow due to the excessive rain, and undisposed trash clogging the drainage systems, which leads to flooding. The next disaster that is usual in Barangay San Isidro is fire in places like Silverio Compound due to the houses cramped in the small compound. These calamities are usually learned from the broadcasted news.

Fire in Silverio Compound

Flood in San Antonio Valley 2

People vulnerable to disasters in Barangay San Isidro

People who are most vulnerable to floods are the ones living beside and around the creek due to the fact that they are near it, which greatly affects them resulting to flood water entering their houses. On the other hand, the people usually vulnerable to fire are the ones living in subdivisions that are cramped. In case of a fire, it would be able to spread quickly. Lastly, the informal settlers (IFS) are the ones very vulnerable to almost all disasters since they are mostly exposed to hazards and live in risk areas with unstable housings.

DRRM Plans of Barangay San Isidro

Since Barangay San Isidro have experienced a myriad of disasters, their plans in DRRRM are the following:

Hazard Maps

Assigning evacuation centers

Having at least 20 volunteers in DRRM

Conducting Information Drives

Hazard Map

DRRM Supplies

DRRM Office

REFLECTION:

In the “kwentuhan” with the Barangay official in Barangay San Isidro, she mentioned that the prevailing issue or problem hindering them to perform their plans of DRRM (Disaster Risk Reduction Management) is the participation of the community members. Though helping them with their plans are some of the homeowners of the subdivisions, they still have difficulties in engaging everyone to take part of the preparations and activities regarding DRRM, also in encouraging people to evacuate in times of floods. This may be caused by the lack of awareness of the community on the importance of DRRM. In order to address the problems, Government officials may possibly need to raise the awareness of DRRM and how it could help prevent intense damage and a number of casualties/ injuries. Alongside with that are more frequent assemblies or activities regarding what to do in times of calamities and diasasters such as typhoons, flooding, earthquakes and fires, moreover how to prevent those.

After having the “kwentuhan” I have realized that I, myself haven’t put in enough effort in knowing what our barangay is doing to prevent these disasters, and most especially not actively participating in the DRRM activities of the barangay . With that, I totally understand how difficult it is for the barangay officials to engage the community in participating in their activities. It came to my knowledge that participation of everyone in the community is key to having successful communication and organization of the DRRM plans.

Based on my actions before, my possible way of addressing the issues stated above is to mainly help spread awareness about DRRM and engaging my family and friends to actively join activities preventing disasters, also listening to government officials when they tell the people to evacuate.

Interview

Sources: https://paranaquecity.gov.ph/sanisidro.php https://images.app.goo.gl/fSfXwiE4KsRoybGU8 https://images.app.goo.gl/Huu4NAS1wAgQnQo