BAGUIO CITY — The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Cordillera will hold a “Run for Resiliency” public activity to encourage the locals not just to learn how to manage disasters but also to be resilient by recovering from any disaster.
OCD-Cordillera information officer Ivy Frances Carasi said on Thursday the Cordillera Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (DRRMC) has set the “Run for Resiliency” event in Baguio City on July 16, in time for the 28th anniversary of the July 16, 1990 killer earthquake that flattened a large portion of northern Luzon, including the country’s city of pines.
“The DRRMC thought of doing the ‘run for resiliency’ on July 16 to commemorate the killer earthquake and make the event more significant,” Carasi said.
Carasi explained that residents in the city would see more relevance in the event because they had experienced in real life a major disaster–an intensity 7.7 earthquake at 4:26 in the afternoon of that fateful day.
“We want it to have an impact on the residents,” she said, adding that by doing it on the said date, people would be reminded of how they survived and eventually recovered from the losses and the devastation.
About 500 runners from the DRRMC member agencies, universities, and the public are expected to join the event. It is free of charge but there will be no winners and no categories.
“We just ask the people to join and run towards resiliency from disasters,” Carasi explained.
Resiliency under Executive Order (EO) 29-2017 is defined as the capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a disaster.
The Executive Order issued by President Rodrigo Duterte renamed the National Disaster Consciousness Month (NDCM), observed in the month of July, to National Disaster Resilience Month (NDRM) to shift the focus from disaster awareness building to capacitating the residents to become disaster-resilient.
Resilience starts with awareness on hazards and risks, which threaten the communities. However, people should also learn how to protect themselves from these hazards and risks, Carasi noted.
Earlier, Ferdinand Tamulto, OCD-CAR Chief Operations Officer, said the public’s awareness of disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) is not enough to face and appropriately act during a disaster, but they should also be resilient and know how to recover from the devastation.
The “Run for Resiliency” will promote the resilience advocacy among stakeholders, encourage prioritization of Disaster Risk and Reduction Management programs, and reinforce public perception of government unity in the campaign for national disaster preparedness.
With the theme “Katatagan Sa Kalamidad ay Makakamtan Kapag Sapat ang Kaalaman sa Kahandaan” (Resilience is possible with enough knowledge and preparedness), similar events were conducted last July 1 in other regions of the country. But in Baguio, it will be held in time for the commemoration of the killer earthquake.
The run route will start from Burnham Park Lake Drive to Session Road, passing by University of the Philippine Baguio drive and TM Kalaw Street, then back to the starting point.
Registration will begin at 4:30 a.m., while the run is set to start at 6 a.m. (Pamela Mariz Geminiano/PNA)
