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Brgy. Sta. Lucia’s DRRM 101

For over 10 years already, I have been living here in San Juan City, particularly in a small barangay, Baranggay Sta. Lucia. With the unending change our world goes in, there is no telling what might happen to it in the future. That is why this was a perfect opportunity for me to know more about how my barangay prepares for unexpected disasters an events. On December 12, 2019, I had the chance to interview our Baranggay Captain, Hon. Eustaquio “Jun” V. Belches, Jr. I became more aware of our community because of this activity.

  Our barangay is small, therefore not many know of it, unless you are really from our city. But it being a small community, also has its advantages. I think with our barangay being small, our community is really given the time and effort to be focused on, and everyone one of us really cooperates and helps one another. According to Mr. Belches, and also on my 10 year of experience, there is no major disasters that our barangay have experienced. Of course, we experience strong typhoons but luckily since we are in a slightly high place, we don’t experience major floods. As Mr. Belches said, luckily our barangay had no incidents of fire breaking out in our community for almost 10 years already. We are not an exempt from disasters like earthquake, fire, and typhoons, which is why our barangay has plans that they carry out little by little throughout the year and in our whole community.

 Mr. Belches explained how our barangay prepares these disasters. A few activities they do are conducting seminars and drills, at least quarterly in a year. He added how they make sure to let everyone know that being prepared is important, and how of course each one can handle an unexpected event when they encounter it. One thing they did for preparation was having food stores supply food for the community in case something happens. He also talked about how they have allotted a budget for their drrm plans, and also having a specific kagawad appointed to manage solely on this sect. They don’t stop in terms of improving our preparedness as they are trying to buy more equipments needed and allot more budget for it.

 Ending the interview, I asked him where he thinks are safest and most dangerous places around our community are, by which I went to after the interview. He answered saying the most dangerous and vulnerable part of our barangay is by the corner of F. Manalo and P. Parada Street. It is considered the most vulnerable part, as it is the border of our barangay connecting it to the neighboring barangay making it the lowest part of our barangay, which gets flooded more easily than the rest of our barangay. That is why he mentioned how they put more surveillance on this part of our barangay especially when it gets rainy.

   On the other hand, the safest place according to him are the evacuation centers as they provide safety to the people especially at times of disaster like earthquakes, fire, and typhoons. Some of our evacuation centers can be found near the barangay office, which is now a multi-purpose hall, but is still used in times of need. Another evacuation place is the one in the corner of F. Manalo and B. Miranda, as we call it Mormons. It is perfect for earthquakes because it is a wide open place, making it safe from debris falling.

   Although not having pictures of it, I think one of the best practices our barangay has, was how we give help to other barangays instead. As we do not have difficulties when it comes to floods, according to Mr. Belches they make sure to help out other communities because he said that in our city, we are one, which is why we help each other in times of need.

  Throughout this experience I have learned so much about our community, not only that I also admire how hands-on our officials were in this topic. As Mr. Belches have repeated in the interview, that knowledge is the key. Being prepared is still important, but we can only be prepared if we have the correct and proper knowledge of what we do or of what we might encounter. I agree with him as knowledge plays a big part in the preparedness of one community. The proper dissemination of information throughout the whole community also contributes, and of course the cooperation of the people is also crucial. As a student and as someone who lived in this community for 10 years already and still counting, I can say that I am very proud of our community, and its progress in Disaster Risk Reduction Management. I only hope that our barangay continues to improve little by little in this pace, as time pass by and as our world changes.

  - Made by Selena Leceta of C-PHA-10