OCD-ARMM PROVIDES TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ON “HVCA” TRAINING

Datu Odin Sinsuat, MAGUINDANAO- The Office of Civil Defense-ARMM has provided technical assistance during the three-day conduct of Hazard, Vulnerability, and Capacity Assessment (HVCA) training to at least thirty (30) participants from the Province of Maguindanao held at Em Manor Hotel, Cotabato City from September 13-17, 2016.

Funded by the United Nations- World Food Programme (UN-WFP), it was an early requested activity by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of Maguindanao that was later on approved by the UN-WFP.

Mauricio Civiles, DRRM Focal Person of the Department of Interior and Local Government- ARMM and one of the facilitators to the activity, said that hazard assessment is very important for it is an evaluation of potential hazards.

“This is very relevant most especially that the province of Maguindanao is prone to flooding considering its low lying areas. Now we have these provincial officers and with their technical people around, it is our objective to assist them,” said Civiles.

Nova Eloiza P. Ybañez, Training Officer of OCD-ARMM, said the vulnerability assessment or sometimes known as the vulnerability analysis in disaster management simply means assessing the threats from potential hazards to a certain population which include infrastructure.

“In fact it comes in two, the Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments or the VCA,” said Ybañez.

Ybañez emphasized the VCA uses different tools to measure the people’s exposure to and capacity to resist both natural and human induced hazards.

“Here in the ARMM, we do not only face natural hazards but also the recurring human induced activities. This is an essential part of disaster preparedness for it contributes to the creation of various community-based disaster preparedness programs up to the grassroots level,” said Ybañez.

Engr. Amier Ashan Aplal, Operations Officer of OCD-ARMM, said the VCA is undertaken in various communities to diagnose the specific areas of risk and vulnerability and determine what actions can be done to address them.

“We do this because it is our objective to involve communities, local authorities, humanitarian and development organizations, and as we draw up action plans to prepare for and respond to the specified risks. As we identify the risk-reduction activities, we could prevent or lessen the effects of hazards, risks and its vulnerabilities,” said Aplal.(GILMHAR A. LAO, Information Officer-OCD ARMM/MINDANAO EXPOSE’)