By Gideon Belen
LUCENA CITY, Quezon Sept. 15 (PNA) — A new program needs to be implemented in the province that is gender responsive community-based disaster risk reduction and management that will build resilient communities, according to Governor David “Jayjay” Suarez.
To answer the call of the governor, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was entered into on Monday (Sept. 14) by the Southern Luzon State University (SLSU) represented by Claudine Dayo, Provincial government of Quezon represented by Administrator Rommel Edaño for the governor, the Provincial Gender and Development (PGAD) Office by Ofelia Palayan, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) by Dr. Henry Buzar and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Quezon by Director Vilma de Torres for the Building Resilient Communities in Quezon (BRaCe Quezon) program.
The aim of the program is to strengthen the communities in the province through joint efforts in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, women empowerment, livelihood and community development in the towns along Tayabas Bay, Lamon Bay and Ragay Gulf.
Accordingly, the program will be implemented in the 33 towns in the province in the next five years (2015-2020). Twelve towns are located along Tayabas Bay shores, sixteen towns along Lamon Bay and five towns along Ragay Gulf.
The program comes in three stages with the first stage is the formation of DRREAM or Disaster Risk Reduction and Environmental Advocacy Managers composed of professors of SLSU who will serve as module developers, trainers, resource speakers and facilitators for the next two stages.
The second stage is the formation of Barangay Empowerment and Transformation Towards Resiliency (BETTER) which aims to strengthen the barangays (villages) and communities for disaster preparedness and response through training and capability building of officials and residents.
The third stage is the implementation of POWERD which means Preparing and Organizing Women for Efficient and Resilient community during Disasters that cater to capability building of women during and after disasters.
According to Claudine Dayo, representative of SLSU, it is apparent that during disasters women are most affected and reflected high mortality since they are the ones left at home or the ones who are assisting children and ageing members of the family. (PNA)