Albay LGUs focus on disaster preparedness

DARAGA, Albay, Jan. 24 (PNA) - The Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) has empowered local disaster councils and visitors from other provinces by giving them trainings on disaster preparedness.

Daraga Municipal Information Officer James Bandol said a delegate, consisting 15 representatives from their respective local government units (LGUs) from the Eastern Visayas Region, has joined with Albay LGUs Wednesday morning and showed enthusiasm on emulating Albay’s disaster response, preparedness and mitigation measures.

“They want to learn from our experiences so that next time like that of the St. Bernard incident would not render their people caught off-guard,” Bandol said.

Strong typhoons, flashfloods and landslides are similarly, the problem among eastern Visayans.

“The APSEMO provided the delegates the provincial setup and afterwards, the visitors chose to come to Daraga this morning to get details from the municipal levels and that they would proceed to the neighboring town of Camalig which is also very near Mayon Volcano,” Bandol said.

APSEMO training officer Rey Annunuevo, on the other hand, said it is now really the thrust of the umbrella Disaster Coordinating Council (DCC) in the province to empower the local DCCs.

There is a need to institutionalize the DCCs among local government units with their own budget, trained personnel and their respective permanent offices not just mere ad hoc committees or task forces.