THE Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) under the Office of Civil Defense in northern Mindanao conferred the “Gawad Kalasag Award for Best Higher Education Institution” to Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan for its “exemplary performance” in implementing disaster risk reduction and management–climate change adaptation programs.
“These commendable efforts earned them not only the recognition but also the greater unquantifiable benefit of providing exemplary service that leads them to become a school that is safer and more resilient to disaster,” the citation reads.
The award was given during the culmination of the 2018 National Disaster Resilience Month with the theme “Katatagan sa Kalamidad ay Makakamtan kapag Sapat ang Kaalaman sa Kahandaan.”
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Framework (NDRRMF), through this award-giving program, pushes for “the use of resources for disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness, and climate change adaptation in order to effect the paradigm shift that will be more effective towards attaining an integrated approach to genuine social and human development to reduce disaster risk.”
NDRRMF considers the higher education institutions to be at the forefront of instilling and inculcating DRRM knowledge and practices to students.
For this program, the NDRRM council assessed the preparedness and capability of over 680 public higher education institutions (HEIs), including satellite campuses, and over 1,700 private HEIs across the country in terms of DRRM.
To this end, the new GKA checklist emphasized on a scoring mechanism that encourages HEIs to enhance their respective disaster risk reduction activities. A total of 100 points were distributed to the following areas: policy and plans (30 points), capability and capacity (40 points), emergency preparedness and response (15 points), and partnerships and stakeholder agreements (15 points).
As the Gawad Kalasag awardee in the HEI category, Xavier received a plaque and cash prize of P50,000.
OCD regional director Rosauro Arnel Gonzales Jr. led the awarding ceremony here recently.
The Gawad Kalasag Award came on the heels of Xavier Ateneo being recognized as one of the “Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Schools for 2017” in the country for “initiating and integrating in instruction, research, extension, and administration, programs which are environmentelated in nature.” (pr)
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