mrmenriquez

[mrmenriquez]

Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

 Last December 12, I was able to interview a barangay official of Barangay 471, Sampaloc, Manila. We discussed about the disaster risk reduction and management plan of the barangay, the specific protocols for each disaster, and the programs that the barangay offers to its populants.

First, we discussed about the contingency plan of the barangay during a disaster. For areas prone to disaster, the barangay implemented early warning system equipment and materials to use such as a megaphone and a two-way radio. The barangay also have weekly activities that helps the community such as a weekly clean-up drive and de-clogging of drainages. They also have a plan for an earthquake, one of which is a national earthquake drill report wherein they train and evaluate the community whenever an earthquake drill occurs. Lastly, the barangay has a cluster of teams ready to be deployed once a disaster hits; they have a rescue and evacuation service team, a warning service team, a medical service team and many more that will be helpful to the barangay.

After the interview, me and the barangay official had a community walk where he showed me the safest places thomasian students should evacuate to in case a disaster hits, I was also shown the places to avoid in case of an emergency. I discovered that the whole barangay was very vunerable to flooding which is why they focus on declogging the drainages. 

I realized a lot of things during the interview such as how one should always be ready just in case because we never know when a disaster will hit us. This is why we should always have a Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan, it isnt a bad thing to be prepared for life-threatening situations. We should be very observant of our surroundings and be capable of doing things that would lead to not only our safety but also the safety of others.