DRRM Seminar

The DRRM Seminar is the second meeting that we had during our NSTP. We held this seminar on September 25, 2016 at the Tan Yan Kee Building. As the name of the seminar suggest, we talked about the Disaster Risk Reduction Management. We discussed all things that are related to DRRM. We also defined the meaning of the terms disaster, hazard, risk, vulnerability, and capacity. Each group made a table regarding the hazardous and safe places, vulnerabilities and capacities of the members’ residences.

            In my opinion, a hazard is the calamity itself and the vulnerability is the weakness of a community or an individual. When these hazards and vulnerabilities meet or “work together”, it causes disaster. Disaster takes place when a community or an individual, who has vulnerabilities, are affected by calamities – such as typhoons, fires, earthquakes, landslides and the like – and some properties and lives were lost also. Risk is the probability of losing something or someone during a disaster while risk reduction, on the other hand, is the way of eliminating or preventing that probability. Capacities are the strengths or capabilities of a community or an individual. We also discussed how disaster, risk, and risk reduction are computed.

            When we made the PCVA table, I actually do not know the precise details regarding the hazardous and safest places, the vulnerabilities and the capacities of the community where I lived in. It is because I did not experience or see directly the earthquakes, floods and fires that happened in the community. All of my answers are just my assumptions but they are based on the experience of my past high school friends who were living at the same barangay as I am. Also, I saw some of the places that were prone to floods and sickness because of the clogged canals and the trash that were disposed incorrectly. For the earthquake, I am very sure of my answer because our house is just meters away from the West Valley Fault. Fires were also possible because of the cable lines and the houses were close to each other. There is also a possibility of landslides because some parts of the barangay were higher than the rest. The barangay is also situated at the side of the Pasig River, which indicates that floods and landslides are possible. I answered the capacities based on the projects that I heard from other residents and the tarpaulins that were posted in different streets.

            To learn more about the discussions we first tackled, we later played a game named Bahay-Bagyo-Tao. Each team is composed of three members. Two members on the side will act as the Bahay while the other one will act as the Tao. There will be always an it. The it will decide the “fate” of the players. If the it says Bahay, the Bahay will move to another Tao in a different team. The Tao will just stay on his/her place. If the it says Tao, the Tao will be the only one to move from one Bahay to another. If the it says Bagyo, all will be “destroyed” and the members should change roles. Whenever there is a transfer of Bahay or Tao, the it will try to go to a Bahay. If one player did not have the chance to enter a Bahay, he/she will be the it. As long as I can remember, I became the it for once. I was really nervous because of the consequence that will be given but still I am determined to not be the it again. Other than having fun, I still learned something from this game. Some of the members were just sticking with one another. It is implied here that a community is trying to recover from the damage the calamity had inflicted. Although it is good on one side, it is also bad on the other side because that community is not helping other communities who were also the victims of the same disaster. Also our professor, Sir Adrian Romero, joined the game. I like how Sir Romero taught us because he is always there for us to be guided whenever we make mistakes. He is also hands-on on the activities that he gave to us. He first demonstrate before giving us the time to try it.

         

  At the latter part of the seminar, we were taught about first aid and basic life support. Even though I tackled these topics back in my CAT class, I still listened because there are some things that were not discussed by my CAT teacher. In the seminar, we practiced on how to initiate and apply CPR on a presumed victim. We were also given a situation where one of us is a basketball player who had so many accidents by just laying up the ball. My role back there was the basketball player or the victim. I was strapped on a spine board and tied with bandages on places where I was injured and the bandages were literally from head to toe. My group mates were able to lift me up even though I am a male and my group mates were all females. I admired them for their efforts and their will to help others who were injured.

            As a whole, I could say that our country is prone to disasters and it is evident from the news and the history. First of all, the country is placed beside the Pacific Ring of Fire, which indicates that we are prone to disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Second, we are situated beside the Pacific Ocean and typhoons are regularly formed there, which implies that we are prone to typhoons, tropical cyclones, LPAs and storms. Third, we are a Third World country, which means that our economy and budget is scarce and we are not able to recover fast whenever a disaster takes place.

            Because we are prone to calamities, our country has our own NDRRMC, which stands for National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council. They are responsible for ensuring the protection and welfare of the people whenever a disaster comes. They are the ones who mainly addresses the issues regarding the disasters. But we cannot be totally dependent to them because they cannot address all our concerns and they also have to address problems in other places. We should be able to help ourselves during disasters because we are the ones who were really inflicted by the disaster and we are the ones who can address these problems faster. With the help of the barangay and the LGUs, giving seminars and rescue tools are the things that we should not miss. We are also the ones who are mainly responsible for our safety. We should not be too dependent on the government because government response can be slow due to miscommunication and the disability to access a given area. Good thing, the University and the NSTP itself is giving these seminars to students in case a disaster happens.