Talim Bay Coastal Resources Management Project

       Representatives from  COSCA’s  partner  people’s organization in Talim Bay, Lumaniag, Lian,  Batangas, the  Lian Fisher folk Association, Inc. (LFA) were among  the participants in the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) training – workshop conducted on May 15 to 19, 2018 for the basic  sectors of  Philippine society.  For  2018,  the Philippine government  through the Office of Civil Defense prioritizes  basic sector training (including  our  local fishers)  on DRRM with the recognition that  enhancing  their  knowledge  and  skills for disaster preparedness is an  important  strategy for  awareness building towards achieving community resiliency and increasing community-level support and participation in DRRM efforts.    The training –workshop aimed to benefit local fishers as quite a number of them have their houses built near the coastline,  making them vulnerable  to the  hazards and  effects of  disaster/s

       The DRRM training introduced our partner community members to the Philippine DRRM system and to the various  hazards they usually encounter in the community  (e.g.  hydro - meteorological hazards, geological hazards, rain- induced landslides, Climate Change and human-induced hazards). The participants were encouraged to describe the hazards/disasters observed in their  localities.   Like  most  workshop  participants, our LFA representatives  realized  that   more  communities  are  considered  situated  in  disaster  prone  areas and thus the need to equip these  communities  the  needed capacities  and resources for disaster preparedness.

       In an  interview  conducted  by Mr. Quenamot, Community Based  Coastal Resource Management  Coordinator with LFA member,  Mr. Agkis, the latter shared  his  learnings  from the  community based DRRM training  - workshop.  The  latter  shared  that  the workshop  was  an  eye-opener  for  him –  becoming  aware and  able  to  identify and  describe the hazards  present  in their  Lian, Batangas .  He thought that responding  to any disaster or hazard in their community it the responsibility only of  Barangay officials and other government agencies.  Mr. Agkis  further shared that the training  made  him  realize that the collective participation of the people in the community is important to mitigate the effects of any disaster or hazard.

       Also, the training facilitated the review of  the relevant DRRM principles discussed through simulation activities by the participants . The latter were given cases  that  happen during calamities and  were  requested to  apply  the DRRM principles and  other  learnings  shared  by the  resource  persons specially when responding  to the hazards / disaster in their communities.  Our fishers  shared  their important take-away from the  training -  the  need  to  echo or share the  knowledge  and  skills  they  learned  during the  training  to the other members of the community.