North Cebu Town Holds Evacuation Drills to Prepare for Typhoon Season

The northern Cebu town of Bantayan is conducting a series of evacuation drills to prepare for the onset of the typhoon season.

Bantayan, one of three towns in Bantayan Island off the northernmost tip of cebu mainland, was one of those badly devastate by super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

The Bantayan Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO) has prepared for the incoming typhoon season by conducting a series of evacuation drills in nine selected communities.

The evacuation drills are designed to make sure that the risk of a typhoon with the same intensity as Yolanda are minimized through preparedness efforts.

Lolita Santillan, one of the Yolanda survivors, said she welcomed three of her neighbors and their families to her home where they sought refuge for three days before relief came.

“There were 13 people in my house and it was a good thing we were able to prepare food beforehand, at least we had something to survive on for three days before relief started to come in our barangay,” she said.

She said that back then, they did not heed the warnings of the local officials because everything felt familiar and they have never experienced a typhoon they could not withstand.

“The wind was only similar to Habagat (southwest monsoon) so we stayed put. Our house didn’t get destroyed but after the typhoon, after we checked our area, we saw that my neighbors have lost their homes. I learned we risked so much by staying behind,” she said.

Today, two years after Yolanda, she is one of the many locals who actively participated in the evacuation orientation and drill led by their community leaders and the MDRRMO.

Santillan was only one of almost 80 participants in the community drill which drew in women, children and even the elderly who carried with them their own survival kits.

She herself carried with her a used rice sack with all her essentials including documents, utensils, rice, canned goods, noodles, soap, a candle and some clothes.

Bantayan Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Research and Planning Officer Oscar Bayan-on said the drills are an important first-step towards community resilience against hazards and typhoons.

“There are 25 barangays in Bantayan and we hope that we can conduct evacuation drills in all of them,” he said.

The MDRRMO earlier conducted Emergency Response Trainings (ERT) to representatives from the various barangays in Bantayan.

The Evacuation Orientation and Drill is part of the Phased Approach to Total Sanitation (PhATS) program implemented by Islamic Relief in partnership with UNICEF.

PhATS aims for communities (including schools) to improve water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) practices and pushes for WASH to become an active component of municipal and community-level development plans including DRR. (PNA) LDV/EB/PR/EDS