Last Friday’s flooding of barangays Agusan, Bugo and Puerto should remind barangay leaders to capacitate their constituents on disaster preparedness and resiliency, City Hall’s disaster response chief said on Thursday.

 

‘What happened in these three barangays (last July 21) wasn’t even a weather disturbance but localized thunderstorms…it’s important for communities of flood and landslide prone areas to understand and know what to do before calamity strikes,’ said Nic Jabagat, chief of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Department (CDRRMD), in Visayan.

 

During the ‘In Focus’ program series hosted by the City Information Office, Jabagat said Cagayan de Oro City has seven rivers—the Iponan River, Cagayan de Oro River, Cugman, Biga-an, Umalag, Agusan and Ala-e rivers.

 

Jabagat said their office distributed risk maps to the flood and landslide prone barangays to identify known high-risk areas so they can prepare preemptive measures.

 

‘We cannot just provide them always with equipment and (they cannot expect us) to respond (on time) always so we have to do something. We already built our capacity for disaster response now let’s focus on building resiliency leading towards public awareness especially on how they rebuild after every calamity,’ Jabagat said in Visayan.

 

Last Friday’s downpour resulted in flooding that stranded commuters that passed through barangays Bugo, Puerto and Agusan.

 

Jabagat said City Hall under Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy’s administration had not been remiss in providing assistance to the barangays as evidenced by the trainings and allocation of brand new four wheel drive rescue vehicles equipped with radio.

 

Aside from the CDRRMD command center in Zone 8, Barangay Carmen that is expected to be completed in two years, Jabagat said they are building satellite offices in Barangays Agusan and Lumbia to house emergency rescue vehicles and heavy equipment for clearing operations respectively.

 

‘But barangay leaders should focus on resilience, not just on acquiring equipment,’ Jabagat said. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)