Dagupan bags Kalasag Award
Intensive preparations and well-knit organization disasters paid off for Dagupan City.
It was named as having the country’s Best City Disaster Coordinating Council and a recipient of the prestigious Gawad Kalasag Award by the National Disaster Coordinating Council.
Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr., City Administrator Alvin Fernandez and Office of Civil Defense Director Eugene Cabrera of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council received the award from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in a ceremony on Thursday at Malacañang’s Heroes’ Hall.
The Gawad Kalasag is presented annually in recognition of exemplary achievements of local governments, agencies, the private sector and individuals in the field of disaster management.
“This recognition is the crowning achievement of our people’s shared efforts to make Dagupan a community resilient to disasters,” Mayor Fernandez said before receiving the award.
The city was chosen in 2006 to become one of six Asian pilot cities for a community-based disaster risk management project known as Program for Hydro-Meteorological Risk Mitigation for Secondary Cities in Asia (Project PROMISE) to be taught disaster management preparedness practices.
Through this program, Dagupan became more pro-active and better prepared for disasters following its painful experience from July 16, 1990 earthquake.
Dagupan has since developed its own disaster management and emergency response measures including the establishment of the Emergency Operations Center, the Dagupan City Citizens’ Helpline, year-round earthquake and fire drills, a multi-hazard trainings and workshops for barangay disaster coordinating councils, schools, banks, hotels and other business establishments.
Last July 21, Dagupan scored 95% from at least 30 evaluators from the RDCC and member agencies during the simultaneous earthquake and fire drill sessions in three different sections of the city.
Dagupan has been sharing experiences with other local governments throughout the country and other Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand.
In 2008, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) dubbed Dagupan as a global model on disaster management. —LM
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
