Preparing For The Worst Case Scenario - Island Garden City of Samal - Deep Water Search and Rescue Exercise

"The City Disaster and Coordinating Council (CDCC) of the Island Garden City of Samal staged Water Search and Rescue Drills last July 29, as a culminating activity in the observance of the National Disaster Preparedness Month.

The scenario -- Reacting to a report from barangay captain Rey A. Villaabrille of Catagman about a capsized rubber boat with about 10 passengers, Incident Commander Rene E. Ambrona immediately alerted members of the IGaCOS City Disaster Coordinating Council (CDCC) and called for a briefing to assess the incident and dispatch the group to the site for water search and rescue (WASAR) operations. As per report, the boat capsized within the vicinity of the municipal waters of barangays Catagman, Peñaplata, and San Jose at around 10 AM that day." (Source: samalcity.gov.ph)

Andrew Levy from the Corporate Service Corps and Neighbors Helping Neighbors was on hand to evaluate the exercise.

The complete article with details about the exercise can be found at: http://samalcity.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=338&Itemid=124

The following is video taking during the event.

This time it was only a drill.

For additional information, please email neighborshelpingneighbors@live.com.

Competition brings people closer together

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to participate in the 3rd Annual Barangay Disaster Coordinating Council first aid competition. It was an exciting experience to participate and become an honorary member of the council.


At the beginning of the program, I had the opportunity to address the audience.


Participants, groups of volunteers, compete at multiple stations.

For this annual event there were six teams from different barangay (districts) within the city. The teams do not necessarily have any formal training, but are really good at what they do.





There is a clear contrast between the barangay teams and many of our Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), which have formal training programs, but limited response. The barangay groups have limited formal training, self organized and often are the first on the scene to an incident.


Their volunteer response is part of their everyday life.


The following is a picture with all of the participants of this years program.



We would also like to introduce the world to my friends from the Silver Needles and all the other teams.


To get a true appreciation of this competition, take a look at the video from last years competition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV3v70VxwbM

For counties that have multiple CERT teams, you may consider having a similar competition between teams. This is also an excellent idea to implement with neighboring counties.