ILOILO City – Around 500 cycling enthusiasts across Western Visayas pedaled 16 kilometers in Guimaras province yesterday in an event dubbed “2019 Bike for Resilience”, one of the key events of the National Disaster Resilience Month observance in the region.
Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Region 6 director Jose Roberto Nuñez said the event theme was “Building Community Resilience through Cycling” and encouraged people to take part in efforts of the government to promote community disaster resilience.
Participants also included members of Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
The cycling kicked off at the Guimaras Provincial Gym towards Barangay Piña in Jordan town, then back.
A special guest at the event was actress Maja Salvador.
After cycling, participants planted trees in Barangay San Miguel, also in Jordan.
Nuñez said the OCD has lined up more activities this month to heighten public awareness on disaster preparedness and resilience such as disaster response equipment display, essay-writing contest, poster-making contest, school-based disaster resilience caravan, and a resilience forum to be participated by local chief executives.
OCD Region 6 kicked off the National Disaster Resilience Month observance on July 1 amid a downpour that started on June 30 spawned by the southwest monsoon.
The month-long activity started with a motorcade in the city’s major thoroughfares and ended with a short program at the new grandstand on Muelle Loney Street.
Nuñez advised local governments to prepare and determine the needs of their barangays identified as prone to flood and landslide.
“Jot down everything so we will know what to do and if it is necessary to give them projects,” he said./PN
