LEGAZPI CITY—Disaster preparedness at all times and Zero Casualty in times of emergency have already become ordinary concerns for Albay and Albayanos, as “ordinary as taking a bath daily,” they say.
Surviving thus far from frequent onslaughts of calamities with best results, and with well organized disaster risk reduction councils down to the barangays, the province now has five Hall of Fame niches in the government Gawad Kalasag (Kalamidad at Sakuna Labanan, Sariling Galing ang Kaligtasan) Awards.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda recently announced Albay’s latest addition to its win list—the 2015 Kalasag Hall of Fame, which included wins by Legazpi City, for Independent Component/Component City; Barangay Oro Site in Legazpi City, for Barangay DRRM Committee (Urban); and Simon of Cyrene in Daraga town, for Civil Society Organization, give Albayanos reasons to be proud.
Gawad Kalasag is a recognition scheme of the National Disaster Risk and Reduction Management Council for exemplary performance and initiatives of local government units, groups or individuals in the field of disaster risk reduction and management and humanitarian action. To earn the Gawad Kalasag Hall of Fame niche, an LGU should be adjudged as best in Disaster Risk Reduction nationwide for three successive years. The very first to earn a niche at the Kalasag Awards was Albay in 2011 for province category, followed by its Santo Domingo town in 2013.
Salceda said by treating disaster preparedness as a way of life and Zero casualty goal a daily goal, DRR’s importance is now widely understood and appreciated by Albayanos down to the barangays, and its methods easily assimilated. He explans that disaster preparedness is founded on capacity building from the smallest unit of the community which is the family, to the state of mind of the entire community itself—the schools most particularly, emergency relief, food, health provisions and sanitation, to long term infrastructure planning and execution.
Two more Albay-based DRR institutions made it to winners’ row of the 2015 Gawad Kalasag Awards—the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, as best hospital; and Buragwis Learning Center for Early Learning Center Category.
Albay, one of the most disaster-prone areas in the country, is regularly mauled by strong typhoons, and occasionally by Mayon Volcano’s eruption. Its highly Climate Change Adaptation and DRR programs and strategies have earned awards and recognitions from both national and international institutions. The United Nations has declared the province as its Global DRR-CCA Model.
“Pray together, stand up together, help one other,” is Albay’s formula for success in DRRM, Salceda said, adding that the “province has demonstrated the efficacy of this DRR formula” emerging with a zero casualty slate in many calamities that hit the province.
He said the formula, which they also use in all their crucial initiatives, has never been a secret: “We pray together, stand up together, help one another. Our people have learned to pray and prepare. Preemptive evacuation is of course our highest form of prayer since it is essentially a community prayer in obedience to God’s command to avoid danger and temptations,” he added.
The governor noted with pride that “the ‘whole of government, whole of society approach’ under Team Albay has paid off and Albayanos, after times of emergency, wake up later to normalcy, like every typhoon was just a bad dream.” He added that “during times of emergency, our people pray Oratio Imperata together; stand up together, and help one another in evacuation centers to overcome their difficulties and tears.”