Western Visayas-OCD holds back-to-back training on disaster preparations

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/983501
• Saturday, April 29, 2017

By Perla G. Lena (PNA)

ILOILO CITY (PNA) -- The Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) goes full-blast in its series of seminars to prepare stakeholders in case of any eventuality.

OCD 6 Regional Director Rosario Cabrera said the three-day incident command system (ICS) seminar for members of the newly-formed Rapid Emergency Telecommunications Team (RETT) and select members of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (RDRRMC) would end this weekend.

“ICS is our language in relation to disaster response so that we will understand each other during disaster operation. They have to be familiar with the ICS because this is the mechanism that we are using right now in disaster response,” she said.

ICS is an on-scene response mechanism that was introduced during the ASEAN-US Cooperation on Disaster Management, Cabrera said.

Republic Act 10121 of the Philippine Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Act of 2010 seeks for the institutionalization of ICS, utilized during planned events involving huge crowds and human-induced hazards.

Cabrera said that Western Visayas ICS received commendation when it hosted several meetings of the 2017 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and the 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

“It is in this region that they were able to see how we run the activity. The practices that we have here are being replicated in other regions. The structure here will be followed by other regions hosting ASEAN meetings,” she said.

The ICS was also activated during the Holy Week, Dinagyang Festival of Iloilo, Capiztahan of Capiz and the ongoing Palarong Pambansa in Antique.

Apart from the RETT, 100 percent of the provincial DRRMCs in Western Visayas have already undergone the ICS training while it is ongoing for municipal DRRMCs.

ICS is a ladderized training. Thereafter, trainees may opt to avail of the next training on integrated planning. The next level is position process and the last is the all hazard incident management team (AHIMT).

On the other hand, Iloilo City has embarked on a contingency planning and formulation workshop for earthquake that was also facilitated by the OCD.

Cabrera said that the workshop was significant since Western Visayas has five earthquake generators that make the region prone to tremors. These generators include the West Panay fault, Negros trench, zone of collision between island of Palawan and Mindoro, Tablas fault and central Negros fault.

The key members of the Iloilo City DRRMC were invited as participants and were guided by experts in coming up with an earthquake contingency plan.

The workshop concluded late Thursday afternoon.