Disaster preparedness of residents to be tackled

THE City Council committee on subdivision and landed estate chaired by Councilor Edgar Cabanlas will be inviting representatives of the City Disaster Risk Reduction of Management Office (CDRRMO), Office of the City Building Official (OBO), City Engineer’s Office, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), Luxxe Hotel Limketkai, New Dawn, Teleperformance in Ayala Centrio and owners of medium to high-rise building/condominium owners to hear what actions were taken to prevent or reduce risks during calamities.

Cabanlas said the committee will convene on the second week of December to further discuss this concern.

This was agreed during the committee meeting recently after hearing the representative of the CDRRMD on how the city provides safety measures and respond during the calamity.

Cabanlas convened the committee in response to the special report of Councilor George Goking who expressed concern on the safety of the buildings in the city following earthquakes experienced in Mindanao a few weeks ago.

It may be recalled that as a reaction to the report of Goking, Cabanlas asked how prepared residents are in case of calamities. He said that aside from the safety of buildings, he is also concerned about the evacuation and other needs of condominium occupants.

During meeting, Nick Jabagat of the CDRRMO said some establishments do not have occupational safety and health standards to protect their people. He, however, assured that personnel of CDRRMO are well-trained in case calamities occur.

Jabagat said one of the concerns that is being looked into during rescue operations is the lack of a structural engineer who will give the go signal to enter the building during calamity.

“Bawal man gud mosulod sa building kung walay go signal sa structural engineer,” he said. (sp)