CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)--A total of 50 employees of the Department of Agriculture (DA)-10 underwent a three-day Emergency Preparedness and Disaster and Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) Training in Gusa, here.
The training aims to capacitate the agency’s employees to proactively respond to unprecedented emergency cases in their households and workplace, especially noting the aggravating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the event of natural and human-induced hazards.
Office of the Civil Defense (OCD)-10 Civil Defense Officer Cheryl T. Na moc said as the pandemic remains a threat to public health and safety these days, an organization's DRRM Program must have "new normal" features.
"With this pandemic the thematic areas of the National DRRM-disaster prevention and mitigation, disaster preparedness, disaster response, and, rehabilitation and recovery must be carried out in conformance to new normal standards," Namoc said.
She also purported that an organization must be able to organize and activate its own Disaster Coordinating Group (DCG) to effectively mitigate disaster occurrence.
Mines and Geoscience Bureau (MGB)-10 Chief Geologist Osin A. Sinsuat, Jr. apprised the participants on Basic Information on Geologic Hazards.
For their part, Chief of Fire Safety Enforcement Division of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)-10 SInsp Arnold P. Lagbas and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) Supervising Science Research Specialist/Geologist Jeffrey S. Perez oriented the employees on Fire and Earthquake Safety at Home and in the Workplace during the training.
DA-RFO 10 Regional Technical Director for Operations Carlota S. Madriaga said the agency annually conducts emergency preparedness training for its employees to keep them abreast with recent DRRM guidelines and updates, as it is crucial in capacitating the employees to be prepared responders in times of emergency.
“With this training we wanted the DA staff to be disaster-resilient so that in times of emergency, they can protect themselves and their family while being able to continuously serve the region’s farming communities," Madriaga said.
Actual safety drills were also conducted to gauge the DA staff’s ability to reasonably respond to emergency instances.
The three-day training capitulated with a workshop on Home and Workplace Risk Assessment.
Through which, participants identified appropriate measures to mitigate potential hazards in their household and workplace, making use of the safety knowledge and skills acquired in the training. (DA-10/PIA-10)
