Western Visayas prepares activities for Disaster Awareness Month
The Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) here and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) will finalize on Friday the series of activities that will highlight the celebration of the Disaster Awareness Month in Western Visayas in July.
OCD regional director Rosario Cabrera said the planning that will be held in Bacolod City will be attended by Phivolcs director, Dr. Renato U. Solidum, Jr and deputy director, Dr. Bartolome C. Bautista, school principals in Bacolod City and other participating agencies.
Cabrera said the celebration will be highlighted by a hospital drill slated on July 3 to be held in Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental and a city-wide earthquake drill in Bacolod City on the third week of the said month.
“The hospital drill seeks to strengthen the linkages between pre-hospital and hospital responders,” she said.
The hospital drill will be participated in by graduates of the Program for Enhancement and Emergency Response (PEEER) which is composed of medical first responder course, collapse structure search and rescue, hospital preparedness for emergency.
A Regional Rescue Olympics and Camp Evacuation Management will also be held last week of July at Panaad Park and Stadium, she said.
“We will be involving the more than 40 member-agencies of the Regional Disaster and Coordinating Council (RDCC) in this activity,” she said.
She also said that they chose Negros Occidental and Bacolod City as the venue of the event because one of the agencies, the Amity Public Safety Academy, recognized by the National Disaster and Coordinating Council (NDCC) to handle the nationalization program of PEER is based in the province.
The month-long celebration will be capped by the regional Kalasag awarding ceremony of outstanding disaster councils and other partner agencies. (PNA)