ILOILO City – The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) is gearing up for a massive awareness campaign on what to do during earthquakes, and it intends to start with preschool children.
CDRRMO chief Donna Magno said they hope to start after the elections and once the problem on the lack of water due to the El Niño phenomenon is addressed.
“We want to start them young to develop the culture of resilience,” Magno said.
The CDRRMO plans to invite children to visit the KABALAKA gallery – a repository of information when it comes to disaster preparedness – at Ker & Co. Building.
She noted that training children on disaster preparedness this early would enable them to adopt it as a “way of life” as they grow older.
What is good about inviting children is that they always bring their parent, who will also get educated in the process, said Magno.
“The interest to learn about disaster preparedness becomes a family affair. Everybody in the family gets to be educated,” she said.
Back in February, the CDRRMO welcomed preschool children from the Balay-Balay Child Minding Center of the University of the Philippines Visayas and taught them and their parents the concept of disaster preparedness.
Magno said they welcome volunteers who might be interested in helping the CDRRMO facilitate the activity.
The KABALAKA (Kahublagan sa Barangay para sa Lapnagon nga Kahandaan sa Kalamidad) gallery contains a package of programs that aim to create a new generation of children who shows concern during disasters, concern for environment, and concern for the elderly and persons with disabilities, among others.
In KABALAKA, children learn disaster preparedness through games.
An Intensity IV quake jolted Iloilo City on April 23 following a series of quakes that hit other parts of the country.
In 1948, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake caused massive destruction in Iloilo and other parts of Panay Island. (PNA/PN)
