CABANATUAN
CITY, Nueva Ecija–The province of Nueva Ecija, which has been identified as one of the
high-risk calamity areas a few years back, now has the distinction as the most
disaster-prepared province in the entire country, according to the Department
of the Interior and Local Governments (DILG).
Dr. Abraham Pascua, DILG assistant
regional director for Central Luzon and concurrent DILG provincial director,
said Nueva Ecija was cited as the most prepared provincial local government
unit (LGU) in a just concluded meeting at the DILG central office that was
presided by Secretary Mar Roxas II.
Pascua, who sits as co-chairman of the
Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) chaired by
Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali, made the revelation during a meeting of the
Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) at the old provincial capitol here
Thursday.
Pascua said the province was cited not
only for the presence of quick response disaster personnel but also the
availability of equipment for rescue and relief operations. “We have so many
equipment on hand so when disaster strikes, we can make use of them,” he said.
Among these equipment, Pascua said,
are a water treatment truck and boats made of fiber glass. He said the province
was one of only two provinces – the other is Albay – which became a recipient
of the truck.
He explained that the water treatment
truck is a vital facility during disasters because it may get water from
irrigation canals and treat and convert it into potable water in the event of
water shortage.
He also said the fiber glass boats
have replaced the old rubber boats which are prone to deflate when struck by
hard objects.
Pascua said that the PDRRMC is eyeing
to train 15 able-bodied persons per town and city in the province to form the
corps of the council. “They will be
organic personnel, not job orders and casuals and they will be given
communications facilities,” he said.
Umali said the province is the only provincial LGU that
knows what to do ahead of the coming typhoon. He stressed that the province
effectively handled past calamities by releasing water from the Pantabangan Dam and
other irrigation systems ahead of the coming typhoons to avert floods and
landslides and mitigate the impact of calamities, resulting in minimal
casualties and property damage.
He noted that during typhoon “Ondoy,”
the province suffered zero casualty because the Upper Pampanga river Integrated
Irrigation Systems released water from Pantabangan Dam several days before the typhoon came.
Umali said the province’s management of disasters is
participatory in that the DILG takes a pro-active role. He recalled that when
he first became governor in 2007, he involved the DILG in disaster preparedness
when he appointed Pascua as council co-chairman.
“The rationale of my having appointed Director Pascua was
because back in 2007, I have few allies among the mayors. I wanted the DILG to
become the provincial government’s conduit with regards to disaster mitigation
and also, to disabuse the minds of the local chief executives of politics in
calamities,” he said.
“As a result, the mayors responded and now, they have
been cooperating with us ever since.”
Umali said in areas beyond his reach,
there’s a man of the hour calling the shots, convening emergency meetings and
leading the conduct of training seminars on geo-hazards and the risks of
landslides and floods.
He said because of its disaster
preparedness plan, the province was extended a P203.2-million grant in 2011 by the
Spanish government to further strengthen its capability to respond to disasters.
The grant, then the first of its kind involving
disaster risk reduction, was used to fund the training component, infrastructure
and livelihood in select cities and municipalities whose respective disaster
councils were strengthened.
Pascua said the province was effective against calamities
because Umali was always on top of the situation, micro-managing and presiding
over the inspection of damaged areas and in the distribution of relief goods to
affected families.
“Over the years, the governor has been
risking his life, even going to landslide-prone areas and braving floodwaters in low-lying areas to
oversee our disaster mitigation, rescue and relief efforts. He was not only
visible. He was personally involved,” he said.
Pascua said the PDRRMC also formulated
a comprehensive disaster risk reduction contingency plan involving the
pre-positioning of evacuation centers and relief goods. The council had five
command posts and four advanced command posts in strategic areas where
personnel, heavy equipment, medicines and goods are deployed and stockpiled in
advance in anticipation of a forthcoming typhoon.
Pascua said disaster management in the
province has become a total team effort with concerned agencies actively involved
in all aspects of disaster preparedness.
“If you can
see, the disaster mitigation efforts of Nueva Ecija is very unique because you
not only cope with calamities but also the water at the Pantabangan Dam. If you
don't manage the dam well enough and its water release, then you will surely
end in disaster,” he said, recalling the massive flooding in Pangasinan when
water overflowed from the San Roque Dam. (Manny Galvez)
