Earthquake Drills conducted at BangkoSentralngPilipinas-

Bacolod Branch, Bacolod City College

An earthquake drill was conducted at BangkoSentralngPilipinas-Bacolod Branch
recently. It was participated by almost fifty (50) officers and
rank-and-file employees of the Branch headed by Mr. Renato
Katipunan, Deputy Director.

The drill coincides with the Memorandum Order of USEC Benito

T. Ramos, NDRRMC Executive Director and OCD Administrator,
dated 17 September 2012, to conduct a simultaneous
earthquake drill in vital government infrastructure following the subsequent
earthquake incidents the country had experienced since last
year until the recent incident in Guian, Easter Samar.

The DRRMO was invited to observe the drill, together with the
representatives of the Bacolod Police Bureau of Fire, BFP, and a
Safety Officer of theBangkoSentralngPilipinas-Central Office.

The drill started at exactly 9:30 am following the sounding of

the alarm system representing a notional shaking. Thereafter, the employees calmly
followed the evacuation route to their designated evacuation
area across the street which is the open space of the Sterling
Bank along Lacson-LuzuriagaSts.

The drill was terminated at 9:40 am. A post-evaluation followed

where observations on the proper conduct of the drill was
taken into consideration..

Similar drill was also conducted for three consecutive days inthe three campuses of
Bacolod City College - Taculing, Sum-ag and Fortune Towne. Close to a thousand
total number of students, faculty and staff of the school participated in the said drill.

Conduct of periodic emergency drills are mandated by law per RA 10121 (Phil. DRRM
Act of 2010) as one of the disaster preparedness and mitigation strategies of every local
government units.
Bacolod City DRRMO hosts educational Trip
of Pre-school Students

The Bacolod City DRRMO recently opened its door for an educational tripof thirty two (32) pre-
school students of Amazing Grace Learning Center,
Bacolod Inc. East Homes 2, Brgy. Estefania, together with
their parents, guardians and school administrators.

The school include DRRMO as one of the itineraries of this

years education trip and to learn more of the services the
Office offers especially on its program initiatives on
disaster risk reduction and management.

The visitors had the chance to actually see, the hi-tech

search and rescue tools and equipment like the thermal
scanner, snake camera, life locator, rescue lights, life vest, etc. Thereafter, they were shown of
a video power point presentation of the DRRMO profile and best practices. The students were
also taught on how to performthe duck, cover and hold technique as preparedness measure
during earthquake.

The educational trip marks another milestone for DRRMO because it is the first time it has
catered an educational trip, after nearly two years of existence since it was institutionalized per
Executive Order No. 04 and City Ordinance 532 in 2011, said Mr. Jose Maria B. Vargas,
Office Acting Head. We are just glad that our people have recognized the importance of
disaster preparedness at all sectors of the society, especially to the school children who are
very much vulnerable to disasters, he added.

Pastor Noel Lanuza, Principal of Amazing Grace Learning Center Bacolod, Inc. graciously
expressed his appreciation for the hospitality of DRRMO.

Mr. Vargas spends time chatting with DRRMO staff teaching kids on how to
the young visitors. perform Duck-Cover-Hold technique.
 Bacolod City DRRMO welcomes GROANO visitors

The Bacolod City DRRMO welcomes to its office, members of Government Radio Operators
Association of Negros Occidental (GROANO) who visited
the office recently.

The 20-men members of GROANO, during its

regularmeeting chose to visit the Office to learn more of the
services the Office offer especially its program initiatives on
disaster risk reduction and management.

Mr. Jose Maria B. Vargas, Office Acting Head, gladly met

and greeted old friends from different cities and municipalities of the province of Negros
Occidental. The visitors were shown of a video power point presentation of the DRRMO profile
and best practices, after which, a short briefing on typhoon tracking system was conducted by
Mr. Vargas as requested by the visitors. The official visit ended up with a guided tour at the
Bacolod City Government Center.

The members of Government Radio Operators Association of Negros Occidental

(GROANO) together with Mr. Jose Maria B. Vargas, Acting Head- DRRMO (seated
Bacolod City DRRMO and CHILD, Inc. conducts Training on
Community Risk Assessment and Planning
The Bacolod City DRRMO in coordination with CHILD, Inc.
a federation working with CHILDFUND conducted a 2-day
Community Risk Assessment and Planning Training at
Bacolod Grand Regal Hotel recently, to six (6) barangays
identified as beneficiary of CHILD, Inc. program in
Bacolod City.

The 2-day Training was a follow-through of the one-Day

Orientationon Community-Based DRRM training which was held earlier, as part of the
series of trainings which were lined-up in the
CHILD, Inc. program on DRRM
among its barangay-
beneficiaries.

Participants were members of

Barangay DRRM Committees
(BDRRMC) of Barangays 1,
Banago, Handumanan, Tangub,
Sum-ag and Singcang-Airport .

The Community Risk Assessment

include the topic on Climate
Change and Gender as cross-
cutting themes for risk assessment, and Participatory Capacity
and Vulnerability Analysis (PCVA) using the hazard and
resource mapping tool which were done by the participants
during the workshop.

On the other hand, prior the planning workshop, participants

were briefed on the procedures for utilization of the Local
DRRM Fund or the Local Calamity Fund pursuant to Section 21
of RA 10121 otherwise known as the Philippine DRRM Act of
2010.

The Bacolod City DRRMO is glad to have established a close partnership with the DRRM
program of CHILD, Inc. as a non-government organization, in response to the initiative
of the national government to promote and develop the
public-private partnership among the local communities in
terms of sharing of resources and expertise.