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maienredota-blog · 5 years

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My Barangay on DRRM Matters

Our barangay 833 at Pandacan Manila is 2.5 hectares with a population of 2,555. The community consists of a bakery, 11 sari sari stores,2 internet shops, and 2 schools. They cover up from DPWH compound up to Talundon Street which made them decide to add more CCTV cameras to their existing 14 CCTVs. have been experiencing problems when it comes to typhoons because the vicinity of our barangay is prone to flooding. During the 2 major typhoons before which is yolanda and ondoy, our barangay was gravely affected most especially during the Ondoy. The flood that time consumed most of the first floors of their houses but they were able to cope up again. The barangay doesn't have any problems in earthquakes considering that the only tall building in the area is the multipurpose hall of the barangay which is also used as an evacuation place during disasters. They are made aware of these foreseen heavy rains because of radios and televisions. Before, a short time rain would flood the barangay but after the drainage is fixed, the flood easily goes away after rain. Usually, the end part of the barangay is the ones that are being flooded amongst all places in the vicinity because of the drainage problem. The flood caused their belongings to be destroyed and school days to be suspended as well as those who have work in different places.

However, the people are able to seek refuge during an evacuation because the barangay has 2 facilities that have more than 1 floor which is the church and their multipurpose hall. They prioritized PWDs and senior citizens in the evacuation and they were also the ones assisting them in their needs. After the disaster, the barangay didn't have any problem in coping up with their lives because they received enough help from NGOs and also the municipality of Manila and they are given food as well to survive the days of the flood. To also rise from the devastation, the people with a livelihood in the community like sari-sari stores are given capital assistance which is usually 5,000 Pesos. The barangay also have their strengths which is their capability to conduct seminars and training when it comes to disaster risk reduction management. The barangay does not only train their tanods but also, there are volunteers from members of the community. They have segregation of wastes as well because they had a Triple B project before which is Bawas Basura sa Barangay which aims to segregate and recycle wastes. This project generates money in which the barangay uses to buy recyclables that they could still use in their everyday lives. The place where the MRF was located is presently a gas station, Shell which is also the reason why their MRF was relocated. The Triple B is already being continued by the A30 group but the funds are still inside the bank account of the barangay and still being used for their benefit. In line with their environmental sustainability projects, they also do weekly clean up drives other than their daily sweeping. Other than that, they push through with declogging and Estero de Pandacan cleaning which is their precautionary to avoid experiencing another devastating disaster to their community.

Given that the community is vulnerable to flooding, I think that the local government should help them in developing their drainage system and the training and workshop for people when it comes to importance of the 3Rs. Considering that they have experienced the result of their actions when it comes to irresponsible disposal of waste ( reason why they are conducting seminars recently) , they will be more empowered in including themselves in lessening waste generated. Also, since drainage system is the problem, it is possible that the flood in the higher places are moving down towards the barangay, maybe they should also fix the drainage system of other barangays as well. This could lessen the possibility that the floodings of other barangays would affect other communities. Our country has a problem when it comes to pollution. We tend to emit more carbon and use non renewable energy, we tend to hoard things which results to the increase in waste and we know that our actions contribute to climate change and yet we focus more on money and business matters. The issue in our country is that there are two things: either very tall buildings or very low geographic areas. This increases our vulnerability to flooding and earthquakes. Our government has to resolve the causes of these disasters because they are neglecting the fact that the repairs for the damaged caused by these disasters are eating up our government's budget which could still be alloted to other projects. Recycling, reducing and reusing won't cost too much but it would create a big impact.

As a member of my barangay and country, one thing that I could contribute is not using plastics, and deal with reusable products instead of single-used ones. I could do this through simply eating outside of my house or everytime I would get a take out. As a member of the gen Z, we are environmental- conscious consumers and I would use that trait of mine to empower my fellow to do the same because empowerment would lead the community towards success. It would not leave us dependent on third parties to solve the problem we created. As a future business leader, I believe that no matter how much we would impose other people to do the same things to sustain our environment, if it's not within their characteristic to do the same or to be conscious in their environment and then we'll lead them to it. As a marketing student, I think that we could manipulate the way our consumer behaves because they buy things they don't even need because of us. What I could do is to partner up with collectors and segregators of wastes and use those materials to create new ones. The new products created by these will be sold to the communities for their day to day lives. For example, if they would be throwing away clothes, it is good to collect it as raw materials and then we could create grocery bags. The members of the community would surrender to us their clothes and then as a way of profit, they would still pay us at a reasonable price at the same time we would be replacing the things inside their homes that contribute to the disasters happening in our community.

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