In photo: Orientation of observers before drill starts (Tep Cocjin)A total of 575 households participated in a typhoon drill earlier today in Barangay Poblacion, San Dionisio. The activity was organized by local NGO Assistance and Cooperation for Community Resilience and Development (ACCORD) in partnership with CARE and the Dutch Cooperating Aid Agencies (SHO). The drill aimed to test Poblacion’s contingency plan and the overall preparedness of its barangay disaster risk reduction and management committee (BDRRMC) in responding to a typhoon equal to or stronger than 2013’s Yolanda.
In photo: Orientation of observers before drill starts (Tep Cocjin)
A total of 575 households participated in a typhoon drill earlier today in Barangay Poblacion, San Dionisio. The activity was organized by local NGO Assistance and Cooperation for Community Resilience and Development (ACCORD) in partnership with CARE and the Dutch Cooperating Aid Agencies (SHO). The drill aimed to test Poblacion’s contingency plan and the overall preparedness of its barangay disaster risk reduction and management committee (BDRRMC) in responding to a typhoon equal to or stronger than 2013’s Yolanda.
Poblacion is one of the 29 barangays comprising San Dionisio, a fourth class municipality in Iloilo province. With a total population of 3,152, the barangay felt the brunt of Yolanda, which brought two-storey high flooding and storm surges in its wake. Eighty five percent of the houses, 90% of farmland, and 95% of boats were damaged.
The drill serves to commemorate the second anniversary of Typhoon Yolanda and to showcase Poblacion’s desire to do better in protecting lives and livelihoods. Identified at risk households participated in the activity; they are those living in coastal puroks and those whose houses are made of light materials.
Drill organizers provided scenarios to which members of the BDRRMC and the whole community responded. In the first phase of the drill, barangay officials went around the barangay in motorcycles shouting “Preparar” on their megaphones. Families readied themselves and their emergency kits. In the second phase, church bells rang while the roving patrol shouted “Lakat Na!” This served as the signal for evacuation to commence. Evacuees rode the trucks at designated pick-up points across the barangay, while others walked to pre-assigned evacuation centers. These arrangements are according to the community-based early warning system.
Led by Vice Mayor Bimboy Albania, representatives from other barangays and municipal and provincial DRRM councils were present to observe the conduct of the activity. They noted that the people really followed instructions, bringing food and clothes and moving to evacuation centers as if the emergency was actually happening.
Ma. Cecile Hipolito, barangay captain of Poblacion, agreed and said that, “Today has shown that we have learned the lessons of Yolanda, thanks to systems and processes we for have set up that are understood by all. That is the most important thing – our preparations would not mean anything if people do not participate.”
For his part, John Carlos Quijano, ACCORD Area Coordinator for Panay, expressed pride at what the barangay has accomplished. “They have really owned the process – from the preparations to the actual drill to the assessment afterwards. This is the essence of our disaster risk reduction efforts – empowering the people and their leaders so that they themselves can work together towards resilience. Even as our project here comes to a close, we are confident that our work here will be sustained and the community will further build on this.”
Similar typhoon drills were also conducted last October 25 in nearby Estancia town, where 500 households participated. Earlier this month, other ACCORD partner barangays in Leyte held their own drills, where 95% of the at risk population or around 6,500 people joined.
