Local government units elsewhere in the country may soon be following Bogo City's lead, as a proposed ordinance there that builds disaster preparedness around the family has drawn interest from the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Willie Jean Cabanag, focal person for the Disaster Risk Reduction Management and Climate Change Adaptation programs of DILG-7, said the department is set to craft a policy that would hold up Bogo City's initiative, called Information Management in Preparation for Disasters, or "I.M. PrepareD," as a template for other LGUs nationwide.
Speaking at a Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Summit on Tuesday, Cabanag said the push right now is squarely on family-level preparedness, and that the department took notice of Bogo City's good practice and, through DILG-7, recommended to the central office that it be replicated.
She said the approach also caught the attention of DILG Undersecretary for local government Austere Panadero when he met with city officials in Bogo last July 14.
Bogo City's ordinance, which would institutionalize the I.M. PrepareD program across families, barangays, schools, and business establishments, is now up for second reading. Under it, each household, barangay, school, and business would be required to post emergency and evacuation maps, emergency directories, and emergency kit checklists in a visible spot within their premises.
Families would also be required to draw up a Family Evacuation Map approved by the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, prepare a Family Communications Plan, and keep a food and water store good for a three-day supply when disaster strikes. Cabanag stressed the importance of the communication plan, noting that families often get separated during a disaster, so they need to agree in advance on where to regroup.
Ben Fredrick Rodriguez, Bogo City's local DRRM officer and the program's proponent, said barangay officials and local DRRM personnel would train families on how the system works. Under the ordinance, a household that fails to comply would be asked to sign a waiver stating it would be the last to be evacuated and the last to receive relief goods and other benefits meant for disaster victims.
Barangays, for their part, would register every family, school, and business for compliance with the program and submit updated baseline data to the LDRRMO each quarter. Rodriguez said that data would serve as the basis for recovery efforts and damage assessment.
In schools, the training would start early, reaching pupils as young as first grade. Schools would be required to weave Disaster Risk Reduction and Management into their curriculum and hold a quarterly evacuation drill.
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