The Camarines Sur Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) and the Provincial Government of Camarines Sur, through the Environment, Disaster Management, and Emergency Response Office (EDMERO), held a 45-day Provincial Responders Training as part of the National Disaster Resilience Month celebration.
A total of 55 participants from Philippine National Police, 565 EB Philippine Army, Baao Community College, MDRRMO Libmanan, and EDMERO took part the training. From July 11, 2022 to August 24, 2022, participants went through five courses including Pre-hospital Care and Ambulance Operation, Basic Firefighting, Basic Rope Rescue, Water Search and Rescue (WASAR), and Land Navigation.
Under Pre-hospital Care and Ambulance Operation, topics discussed include Basic Life Support, Incident Command System, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, oropharyngeal airway, foreign body airway obstruction, fifth link-advance life support, post arrest care, Emergency Medical Services system, among others.
On the Basic Firefighting course, participants were taught how to properly use fire hose and coupling connection, donning and doffing of PPE with self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), chainsaw management, and smoke under.
They also learned different firefighting skills through practical demonstration of busted hose replacement, Y-Gated valve, ladder attack with ropes, wild hose recovery, LPG fire blanketing, hose carry two and half, and fire suppression.
Senior Fire Officer 2 Joey Ricky Cezar, Chief Operation Officer of Pili Fire Station and one of the instructors, shared, “Ini pong mga tinukdo ming skills sainda, dakulang bagay po ini tanganing maaraman ninda kun ano su mga techniques and strategies on how to suppress different classification of fire asin papano maiiwasan na magkaigwa nin kalayo. Dakulang bagay na maski bakong bombero, dapat aram ta pano i-manage an kalayo.”
On the other hand, under the third course, participants gained fundamental skills, techniques, and practical experience on Basic Rope Rescue. Skills on knot tying, anchoring, ascending and descending, and victim hauling were taught through actual demonstration.
Moreover, on WASAR course, participants learned different water approaches such as swimming strokes including freestyle, breaststroke, sidestroke, underwater knot tying, boat capsize and recovery, river crossing, and boat handling. On its last day, participants had their one-mile swim and an actual application of all lifesaving techniques.
Eli Mujar, WASAR trainor and SAR leader from MDRRMO Libmanan, and one of the participants, shared, “Maogma po ta mas nadagdagan pa si mga dati ming kaaraman. Kumbaga, mas na-improve asin na-upgrade ini na magagamit mi kun kinakaipuhan sa maabot na panahon. Arog sa WASAR, mas nakanuod pa ako lalo pag-abot sa lifesaving asin boat handling.”
“Importante po an arog kaining training huli ta maaagapan ta an mga aksidente, disasters, asin si mga dai ta ine-expect na mangyari. Pwede mi man ining maitukdo pagbalik sa kanya-kanya ming banwaan para pag may nangaipo, dakol kitang maisasalbar na buhay, asin mababawasan an casualty,” he added.
For Eli, it took discipline, presence of mind, humility, and commitment to be able to become a responder. “Passion ko na po an magin rescuer. Sabi ko sa sadiri ko kadto, gusto kong magin rescuer. Nag-apply ako sa MDRRMO Libmanan asin puon kadto, nag-eenjoy na ako sa ginigibo ko asin naoogma ako na nakakatabang sa mga tao asin naisasalbar an buhay ninda.”
Lastly, on Land Navigation course, participants were introduced to using maps, its topographic symbols, standard colors of topographic symbols, Military Grid Reference System (MGRS), and terrain features. They were also taught navigational techniques on map reading, how to get back azimuth, grid coordinates, among others.
Another participant of the training was Aiza Zaballa, Library Assistant from Baao Community College. According to her, “Simula po nang maging frontliner ako this pandemic, na-attach na akong tumulong talaga sa mga tao. Kaya nakaka-excite nung inoffer sa amin itong training kasi nabigyan kami ng opportunity na mag-train. [Although] nakakakaba din kasi non-medical [personnel] kami tapos sasabak kami sa ganito.”
Napakaimportante po nito kasi ako bilang walang alam dati sa pag-respond kahit pag-first aid sa simpleng laceration, at least dito natutunan ko ang mga dapat gawin. Nasubukan ko talaga dito kung hanggang saan ang kaya ko. Maganda po sa pakiramdam ang ganitong experience”, she continued.
Aiza also added, “Pag bumalik na po kami sa BCC, alam ko pong makakatulong ako dahil sa school namin marami pong estudyanteng pwedeng mangailangan ng tulong, marami din po kaming mga activities. Mai-aapply po namin yung natutunan namin sa training. Kung sakaling kailanganin din po kami ng province, handa po kaming tumulong anytime.”
Not only did the training aim to equip the participants with knowledge and skills on different training courses, but also to increase their awareness on disaster preparedness as CamSur is prone to different calamities.
After the training, all responders are now considered as additional manpower of the province. As new responders, they are urged to report to the Emergency Operation Center when there is a need for deployment.
“In real scenarios, we really are preparing for all hazard incidents that might occur in the province. Through this training, responders will be able to know how to manage such incidents. Also, as we always say, ‘CamSur is Ready’ so we are conducting different capacity-building activities and trainings to further strengthen the capability of the province,” said Matthew Cortez, Training Unit Head of EDMERO.
He added, “We train not only PDRRMC members and other agencies but we also target our local counterparts like the barangay and municipal responders so that everyone knows what to do when disaster happens to achieve zero casualty in CamSur.”
Other trainings that are being conducted to capacitate more the responders include Basic Life Support (BLS), Psychosocial First Aid (PFA), Incident Command System (ICS), Collapsed Structure, among others.
