DISASTER RISK REDUCTION MANAGEMENT IN
BARANGAY GREATER LAGRO
BACKGROUND ON BARANGAY GREATER LAGRO
Barangay Greater Lagro is one of the
barangays in the 5th district of Quezon City. Greater Lagro is a new
barangay created in 1996 by the splitting of the former Barangay Pasong Putik
in three barangays through a city ordinance sponsored by Councilor Godofredo
Liban II. It commenced on June 1, 1997. The barangay encompasses La Mesa Dam,
Hilltop Subdivision, Sitio Milan of Neopolitan Subdivision, and Lagro
Subdivision, which is the biggest and the center of Barangay local government.
Barangay Greater Lagro’s mission is to enhance the
quality of life and standard of living of every resident within the territorial
jurisdiction of Barangay Greater Lagro.
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT ON BARANGAY GREATER LAGRO
Hazard Identification:
In the
history of barangay greater largo, the most common natural disaster that it
encounters are typhoons. The most disastrous typhoon that lead to the
destruction of many infrastructures and also falling trees and others is during
the onslaught of Typhoon Ondoy. The barangay’s awareness regarding its strength
might’ve been too little including the solutions on how to cope up and to avoid
disasters caused by typhoon. But through this event, the barangay officials
including the citizens residing would be more careful and to follow all the
teachings and seminars regarding DRRM that would be projected by the barangay.
Other
than typhoons, the next problems that the barangay usually encounters are
already problems, misunderstandings, and crimes of people residing. There are
no other natural disasters that occurred in the barangay other than typhoons.
Given
that the barangay is in a urban place and that poverty rate isn’t to high, it
is advised to be always aware of the weather forecasts that are relayed in the
news through television. It is also, suggested to read newspaper in the morning
for a more precise and concrete information.
Hazards usually occurs in the barangay, through its lack of knowledge,
recklessness, and carelessness.
Vulnerability, Elements and
People at Risk Assessment:
In the
barangay where typhoons are the usual natural disasters that occur, the most
prone areas are the ones that reside in the lowest inclination of the barangay.
The geological land of barangay greater largo is a hilltop and given that,
there are areas where it has a low point elevation. Due to this, when a typhoon
strikes, the water will flow to the lowest point possible and that area would
be the ones that receive the greatest disaster. Additionally, even places in
the highlands are not safe against the effects of typhoons. Houses with
incomplete structures or built with wood that are already very old and decaying
would also experience disaster.
One of the strongest built houses are the ones with fortified post in four corners and the ones that are built in cement. Houses built in woods would usually suck up the water from the water coming from the rains that leads to the weakening of its structure while houses built in cement and are built to resist typhoons are the ones that lasts longer and are recommended by the barangay.
One of the problems why the barangay can’t develop its
current state is due to the lack of participation of the surrounding citizens.
In the current state where the marginalized mind their own business by doing
their own sources of living and the middle class to the rich ones have
different perspectives about the community, unity to achieve development for
the barangay is very close to impossible.
Capacity and Disaster Management Assessment:
The
barangay advises the citizen in the marginalized sector or to those who have
their house broken due to typhoons, to have them evacuate to the nearest
gymnasium of a public high school and other assigned areas for the main time.
Relief goods will then be equally distributed to each citizen until the typhoon
tones down. The barangay will then try to provide as much financial support to
those citizens who have their house or business down due to the onslaught of
typhoons. The barangay officials and the ones who are willing to help are the
people who offer assistance to those who are affected by the typhoon.
COMMUNITY WALK
Hazardous places in the barangay
usually include houses with weak structures and houses that are near incomplete
infrastructures which usually leads to it falling down when a strong natural
disaster occurs.
One of the safest places
in the barangay are the school gymnasiums and the barangay hall which is
sometimes used to shelter people in times when other gymnasium or evacuation
centers are full.
One of the best practices that the barangay do
is having drills about natural disasters and other seminars concerning health.
In
relating to all the information that the barangay officials relayed to me, I
can say that our barangay is slowly developing in all aspects like disaster
risk reduction management, cleanliness, education, health, and other projects
that are being planned to implement next year.
Until now, the cases of crimes and
misunderstanding are the top priority of our barangay nowadays. Given that
they’ve already thought of solutions on disasters and other things, the
remaining problem now is how to relay it to the citizen and to get their
participation on implementing it. Usually, this leads to the clashing of
different opinions of the citizen which the barangay official understands given
that they live in different ways of coping in life. The barangay doesn’t have a
concrete solution for this problem yet but they’re trying their best to connect
the differences of the citizen so that in one point they can achieve unity and
that will be the starting point to developing our barangay faster.
With confidence, I can say that
today, our barangay is one of the best disaster risk reduction management in
the Philippines. I can also say this because even though we already have our
current plans and solutions for occurring disasters, our barangay is still
continuing on developing it so that there would be no lacking or mistakes in
the process.
I realized that our barangay
officials really did try to improve and develop the current state of our
barangay to meet the standards and necessity of the citizens for them to have a
comforting and happy life with no problems or issues.
I think it is important to address
the issues of our country for the awareness of not only our barangay but for
the whole Filipino citizen. One of the ways on how to address it is by
attending seminars that raise awareness regarding it, watching news, or by
simply searching it in the internet given that our generation today is now
digital and where information is vastly relayed and conveyed.
I think that by exposing
the problem itself would be sufficient to address the vulnerabilities of our
countries so that the citizen will see directly the problem itself and make a
concrete solution for it. To further increase the capacities of our country I think
the most suited solution is the participation of each citizen so that the
solutions or the plans our country wants to implement will be done to the
maximum potential.
About the Creator:
Miguel Angelo C. Aquino completed his tertiary education at Quezon City Science High School (Kisay/QueSci). During his high school life, he became a member of the Kisay Football Club (KFC) for two years. He graduated from Kisay with honors and now he is studying BS Chemistry at University of Santo Tomas.
Contact
No.: (0919) 855 9296
Email
Address: miguelangelo.sci@ust.edu.ph
References:
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