ILOILO City – The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) held a regional launching of the Enhanced Operation L!sto Manual on Wednesday at a hotel here.
Operation L!sto is an umbrella program of DILG’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (DRR-CCA) plan. It aims to make local government units (LGUs) resilient and safe communities, as well as make households self-reliant during disasters.
According to DILG regional director Ariel Iglesia, the first edition of the disaster preparedness manual was launched in 2014; it focused on preparedness checklist for mayors, DILG field officers, local police and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) chiefs.
The enhanced version, Iglesia said, included a checklist for provincial governors.
According to Robin Lim of the DILG-Central Office Disaster Information Coordinating Center (CODIX), actions outlined in the enhanced manual are now more time-bound and detailed.
“Primarily this is because of our experiences in recent calamities,” Lim explained.
Operation L!sto has three components:
* L!stong Pamahalaang Local which aims to institutionalize protocols and standards for disaster preparedness
* L!stong Pamayanan which aims to establish and implement community simulations and drills
*L!stong Pamilyang Pilipino which aims to capacitate households to be self-reliant by being aware of their hazards and risks, and appropriate actions to be taken
“In L!stong Pamilyang Pilipino, the checklist guides families on what to prepare in times of calamity such as where do they need to go, what should they bring pagkailangan ng forced evacuation,” Lim said.
In the L!stong Pamayanan, Lim said “the checklist ni mayor on early preparedness complement those actions na ginagawa ng community and family. In terms of the involvement of the BFP and police, malaking po tulong na gagawin nila dahil lahat po ng actions ng fire marshal at chief of police complement the specific actions ng mayor.”/PN