By Iryn D. Cubangbang
Cotributor
San
Fernando City, La Union—The Dept. of Social
Work and Development (DSWD) Region I, as the lead agency on response, early
recovery, and rehabilitation of disaster victims in Region 1, trained 40
employees—the pioneer group—on basic Incident Command System (ICS), a standardized approach to emergency incidents.
Led by the Office of Civil
Defense (OCD) Region 1, other subject matter experts came from Department of
Health and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO)-La
Union.
At the start of the three-day
training, DSWD Region I director Marcelo Nicomedes J. Castillo emphasized the
importance of the ICS in disaster operations ̶ for
the staff to get a good grasp of the activities done at the local level so they
will have the expertise to provide technical assistance or expertise at any
given time. “The Philippines is enlisted among the top 10 disaster-prone countries;
thus, the ICS is very important, especially to the frontline staff,” Mr.
Castillo said.
Also, OCD Region 1 director
Melchito Castro discussed the usefulness of ICS as the international standard
in responding to disasters and hazard and stressed the need to train DSWD staff
being the lead agency in the clusters of response and early rehabilitation.
ICS is a standard, on-scene,
all-hazard incident management concept that all DRRMC member-agencies as well
as response groups can use on disasters, human-induced crises, accidents, or
even planned events.
Incidents may happen in the
form of major disasters, emergencies, terrorist attacks, terrorist threats,
civil unrest, floods, hazardous materials spills, earthquakes, tropical storms,
tsunamis, war-related disasters, public health and medical emergencies, and
other occurrences requiring emergency response.
During the training, a
detailed example of an incident helped the trainees strategize and identify
tactics to maximize resources and respond to immediate concerns in the affected
areas through an incident action plan.
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