31 evacuation centers to be constructed in Bicol Region

REGIONAL Director Claudio L. Yucot (4th from left) of the Office of Civil Defense 5 and chairperson of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) stresses the need to follow the warning signals being issued by government authorities during calamities, especially when it is about relocating the members of vulnerable sectors from disaster-prone areas to avoid casualties. RBManlangit

DAET, Camarines Norte --- A total of 31 evacuation centers will be constructed in Bicol Region this year according to Regional Director Claudio L. Yucot of the Office of Civil Defense 5 who is also the chairperson of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC).

This was bared during the Talakayan sa PIA on Air over Radyo Pilipinas and Kapihan following the regional kick off of the National Disaster Resilience Month (NDRM) which was held in this province over the week.

RD Yucot said that the 31 evacuation center projects will be allocated and divided to all the provinces throughout the region this year aside from the 4 projects that were given earlier to the province of Albay.

Each evacuation center costs almost P32 million. The local government units should donate 3,000 square meters of land where the building will be located.

He said that building more evacuation centers will now be the regular project of the OCD so that school buildings will no longer be occupied during disasters.

Meanwhile, RD Yucot stressed that to avoid disaster, vulnerable sectors should be taken out of the areas where adversities like landslides and floods might happen.

He said that the public should follow the advice of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB) and other concerned agencies and local government units.

Eric de Castro, operations division head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) said that aside from the “Run for Resilience” as regional kick off activity, they will also conduct a region wide convergence of Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officers (LDRRMOs) on July 16-18.

He said that other activities for this month will be the youth summit on July 16-20 and 8th Provincial Skills Olympics on July 29-31 wherein barangay response teams from all the towns will be the participants.

The kapihan was also participated in by the LDRRMOs as guests who also discussed NDRM activities and initiatives in their localities.