The Vulnerability and Impact Reduction to Earthquake (Viper) project has included Cavite in the Harmonized National Contingency Plan (HNCP) for the “Big One,” a 7.2-magnitude movement of the 100-kilometer West Valley Fault with Intensity 8 ground shaking.
The groundwork for this was based on the Metro Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council’s Oplan Metro Yakal Plus, which was conceived in 2010 through the Greater Metro Manila Area Risk Analysis Project and previous data from the Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study.
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the Valley Fault System indicated that the Big One will pass through the dense Metro Manila area and its neighboring provinces.
Viper was realized through a consortium composed of the Provincial Government of Cavite-Office of Public Safety, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) and the Humanitarian Leadership Academy (HLA) to identify key actions to better prepare the province for the impacts of the earthquake, and to strengthen its Humanitarian Coordination Model.
In May Cavite Gov. Jesus Crispin Remulla signed a memorandum of agreement with Adra Philippines Country Director Tom Pignon and HLA Philippines Director Diosdado Waña formally including Cavite in the HNCP for the Big One. The project, which was funded by Adra Czech Republic, Adra International, Provincial Government of Cavite and HLA, officially ended in June.
Under the HNCP, the local disaster fund shall provide local government units (LGUs) equipment to help with the rescue of casualties and collapsed structures. Each city, municipality and barangay takes primary responsibility for response operations and evacuation centers in their immediate areas. They are also tasked to implement their own response plans in coordination with their city or province disaster risk reduction and management office.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that the effects of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake include: damaged buildings, homes and other infrastructure; damaged power lines and fire breakouts; broken water supply; faulty communication lines and human casualties.
Pignon, in an interview with the BusinessMirror, stressed that disaster countermeasure is crucial to curbing any kind of casualties that such crisis may bring. He said, “There is still more work that needs to be done and I don’t think we can ever be completely prepared, but coming up with a contingency plan is a key step to facing disasters and emergencies.”
Viper has three stages and Adra headed its overall management. Stage 1 was the development of a contingency plan, facilitation of an effective regular monitoring of the project implementation, including the conduct of post-activity assessment to measure the achievement of the project, among others.
For Stage 2, the HLA provided technical assistance through the services of a competent local service provider to assist and participate in the project management team meetings and other consultations related to project implementation.
The provincial government, through its Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), handled Stage 3, which was the actual implementation of the developed contingency plan. The PDRRMO also ensured the dissemination of information regarding the status and updates of the project implementation to program beneficiaries and other relevant stakeholders, including the preparation of the Annual Investment Plan, among other significant tasks provided in the agreement.
“Viper has brought together the LGU of Cavite and various agencies to say, ‘If that disaster happens, this is going to be our role, this is how we can work together to reduce the impact of the earthquake and for us to recover much sooner.’ A lot of work has been done on the national level focusing on how to respond to disasters within Metro Manila, and so it is our role as a humanitarian agency residing in Cavite to bring that here,” Pignon said.
“The last Big One happened about 450 years ago and that could mean that it might happen tomorrow, or in 10 or 20 or 30 years’ time. We can never predict when. What we do know is that we need to be prepared when it finally happens,” he added. Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez