CamSur opens National Resiliency month celebration

PREPARED FOR THE BIG ONE. Formal opening of the National Resiliency Month celebration held July 2 at the Capitol Convention Center in Pili, Camarines Sur.

PILI, Camarines Sur --- A massive ground rupture which may cause insurmountable damage to lives and properties, worst scenario of aftershocks triggering more disastrous jolts, power source all down, collapsed building and scattered debris everywhere – this is the grim picture if the hypothetical BIG ONE quake will hit land anytime as predicted.

Coinciding with the preparations and rudiments that the province of Camarines Sur is doing in anticipation of this catastrophic earthquake is the celebration of the National Resiliency Month this July. The opening ceremony was held at the Capitol Convention Center, July 2, Tuesday with close to a thousand participants.

Camarines Sur Governor Miguel “Migz” Villafuerte, in his message read by Vice Governor Imelda Papin, spoke of the great pride he has for having the best Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office in the country.

Proof of this is the latest accolade received by EDMERO’s Search and Rescue and Fire Unit in the 4th Rescue Summit hosted by UNTV last April after emerging as Champion, besting other veteran competing teams in the country. The competition is actually a way to raise the awareness of the responders for the potential massive earthquake that would result in the movement of the West Valley Fault.

“The award is a huge testament that our office is manned by best-skilled rescuers ready to respond to any disaster and emergency 24/7. Similarly, the province’s Saringaya Award from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is a proof that we promote disaster resilience not only through preparations for disasters, but also through pro-actively rehabilitating and conserving our resources,” Papin further reads.

The National Resiliency Month opening the other day commenced with the orientation of the invited responders on the Incident Command System, Emergency Operations Center and Cluster Approach as discussed by retired Phil. Navy Captain Edgardo Guevara.

Attendees were various Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officers (MDRRMOs) coming from different municipalities in the province, uniformed personnel from Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), 9th Infantry Division, Philippine Army (PA), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), different communication groups, Department of Education (DepEd), Philippine Red Cross (PRC), EDMERO, REACT and Philippine Information Agency (PIA), among others.

A lecture on managing planned events, including sharing of best practices and discussions on key principles for an effective disaster responder were also explained by Martin Aguda, Jr. and Vicente Lagundaym Jr., respectively, both tasked as resource speakers.

A simultaneous planning and meeting of the Camarines Sur Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council members for the planned Simulation Exercises for the Big One was also held at the Villa Del Rey Function Hall, here.

During the planning session, Jose Francisco Celebrado, Environment Disaster Management and Emergency Response Office (EDMERO) training officer, also presented the general scenarios for the Simulation Exercises for the Big One Response.