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DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND MANAGEMENT: Barangay 466, Zone 46

18 December - The day I visited the barangay 466 zone 46. It was located beside the campus of the University of Santo Tomas, Padre Noval St. This visit and talk with Kagawad Kiko was a great learning experience and has given me the knowledge and awareness to how they plan and act in times of disasters in the community.

I have the privileged to talk to Kagawad Francisco Vargas or as his community and work mates call him “Kiko”. The interview was set place just right outside their barangay hall.

The barangay 466 Zone 46 is found in the heart of the university belt. It is one of the 11 barangays of Zone 46 and one of the 896 barangays of the city of Manila. And found in the 4th district also called the Sampaloc district of Manila. Its population is approximately 1300 during school days and only 500-700 during the vacation season. It is mostly composed of students. The infrastructures around the barangay are mostly commercial rather than residential and has about 90% concrete and 10% wood. There are no present forests and farms in the barangay.

During the interview, Kagawad Kiko shared with us the details on how they plan and act during times of disasters.

The barangay 466 mostly has human induced disasters present. These are petty crimes such as holdapping, snatching, bomb threats and fire. Natural disasters are also present which involves typhoons and earthquakes. The last earthquake happened last April 2019 that directly affected the community since the NCR is directly hit.

These disasters affects the whole community. Kagawad Kiko told me that if there is a bomb threat around the community not only the residents are affected. It also affects the school activities since there will be cancellation of classes, and this will affect the businesses around the campus there will be no profit for the day, this will also affect the schedules of the school calendar and a lot of work will be disrupted.

He shared that there is a part of the community that is greatly affected whenever there is a disaster. For human induced snatching and holdapping mostly happens in the Alfonso Mendoza road. The victims are are not from the residence so are the suspects. Mostly the suspects are teens and they even have a strategy of having one of their members watch for police and other officers when doing their work. In Adelina and Eloisa street, they have wooden structures that can be prone to fire but they complied and used fire resistant paints. For natural disasters, Adelina street is very prone to accidents and  flooding, this is because  there is a slope in that part of the community.

In preparing for disasters, according to Kagawad Kiko the community is always updated through the mass media and in social. And they conduct meeting to talk about the possible things that could happen so they can always be ready. They also coordinate with the building owners to orient the residents or occupants. The local government also conducts declogging to reduce flooding, they also change street lights regularly.

For personal preparation, Kagawag Kiko introduced me to EDCs and the E-Kit. First is the EDC or everyday carry, this are id, matches or lighter, whistle, flashlights and cellphones. This consists mostly of the things that you can carry in your small bag or even in your pocket. Next is the E-Kit, this is a 2-3 days personal needs like the personal papers such as birth certificates, 2-3 days hygiene kit, 2-3 liters of water for cleaning purposes, ready to eat meals, 2-3 liters of water for your meals and first aid kit.

During natural disasters, the local government of Barangay 466 has plans on where people can go. For earthquake, during the shaking the residents should go to open areas like the streets and roads, they also coordinated with the school so they could also go to UST open field and in the courts. They also coordinate with the PNP for assistance in natural and human induced disasters. According to Kagawad Kiko when asked about where should the community avoid going into, they should avoid leaning posts, going near the wirings, and after the earthquakes, from the roads and streets they should go to the sidewalks since they are possibilities that they could get hit by a car.

Despite all the planning of the local government, there are a lot of problems they are facing. The biggest one is the lack of coordination and participation other community residents. Some of the residents that are mostly students hide to the libraries, cafes and other shops to skip drills that are very important. The other problem is the finance and the materials the equipment that they have in the community are not as updated as it should be. But they have complete basic materials and equipments such as Fire trucks, CCTVs on streets, Mega phones for announcements and rubber boats.

My visit in the barangay was short but was informative. I hope other barangays are like barangay 466 that are always ready and has concrete plans for disasters and 1 am hoping that at some point they will be able to update their equipments that could help for the betterment of their disaster management in the community.