Albay serves as model for DPWH plans for ‘Yolanda’

LEGAZPI CITY—Impressed with how Albay province built its evacuation centers as part of its disaster risk reduction mitigating measures, the Department of Public Works and Highways.

(DPWH) has decided to adopt the Albay model in building evacuation centers in Yolanda-stricken areas in Eastern Visayas.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson announced this plan at a joint conference on Friday sponsored by  Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and the DPWH in Manila.

The DPWH will use in the Yolanda reconstruction the design and specifications used by Albay for its evacuation centers, the governor said here on Saturday, quoting Singson.

At the conference at  the Dusit Thani Hotel on Friday, Singson informed Salceda that a team from the DPWH would meet with Albay’s disaster risk reduction (DRR) experts to learn about the Albay DRR evacuation model.

Salceda said Singson had expressed admiration for the Albay DRR model especially in building evacuation centers that could alternate as classrooms during normal times, rather than classrooms ending up as evacuation centers when disaster strikes.

Salceda said he and Singson were among the resource persons during the conference, called “Build Back Better: The Path toward Reconstruction through Japanese and Good Practices,” at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City. Also present was the mayor of Higashi Matsushima City, Miyagi, Japan, he said.

Salceda said he discussed the “zero-casualty strategy” in Albay.

This strategy requires massive preemptive evacuation of all residents in areas threatened by any form of disaster, such as flooding and lahar flow (for those living at the foot of

Mt. Mayon), even prior to the entry of a storm or following days of continuous rain.

It has also been the practice in the province of Albay, through the governor, to suspend classes and bar the departure of small seacraft even if there is no storm signal provided there is a threat of flood or if there is a gale warning.

Danilo Antonio, adviser of rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson, also expressed intention to visit Albay and learn how the resettlement strategy is being implemented, Salceda said.

Jica has been a close partner of Albay in its DRR efforts, with the Japanese agency pouring in some P440 million to finance the construction of permanent evacuation-centers-cum-classrooms in areas that are safe in the flood-prone towns of Polangui, Libon, Oas, Sto. Domingo, Manito and Legazpi City.

Jica-funded evacuation centers can accommodate 10 classrooms under normal conditions, Salceda said.

He said the Albay evacuation centers were considered by a UK study as a successful model as it used “building back better elsewhere” as its underlying principle and was cited by the World Bank in its recent climate study of the Philippines.