As part of the National Disaster Resilience Month Celebration 2022, the Camarines Sur Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) conducted the fourth of the ladderized courses of the Incident Command System Training, the All-Hazard Incident Management Team (AHIMT) at the Villa Del Rey Function Hall, Capitol Complex, Cadlan, Pili on July 4-8, 2022.
With the aim to train participants for them to obtain the knowledge, skills, and attitude required for IMT members toward effective group cohesion and well-coordinated disaster response, 44 representatives from member-agencies, Department of Education (DepED), Philippine Army (PA), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges (CSPC), Philippine National Police (PNP), Rural Health Units (RHU), Provincial Health Office (PHO, and Environment, Disaster Management and Emergency Response Office (EDMERO) attended the 5-day ICS Training.
“Conducting ICS Trainings is very, very important because we know that our province faces different hazards and disasters every year. So, we must continuously train people from different agencies because they are the ones who will respond once these hazards and potential disasters arrive,” shared Crisostomo Rivero, Assistant Department Head of EDMERO and one of the cadres who led the training.
To ensure effective and active learning, the 5-day training was divided into five modules, namely Introduction to AHIMT, IMT Transition and Management, IMT Positions and Responsibilities, Team Dynamics and Decision Making, and Planning Process. Structured learning exercises and multiple simulation exercises of complex disaster and incident and event management were performed to certify the knowledge and skills obtained by the participants.
One of the participants, Jell Husain, a SPED teacher and school DRR coordinator of SPED Integrated School in Buhi, shared her gratitude for having been invited to attend the training.
“Being one of the participants of AHIMT training is difficult, especially if you have no knowledge of the disasters our province face. When I became our school’s DRR coordinator, I have no knowledge at all of ICS, but I still tried my best to help our community. With this training, I was able to learn new knowledge and be better prepared in times of disasters and incidents. And I can also share what I learned from this training to our community,” she said.
According to Husain, climate disasters in their community were never easy. Because of the Lake Buhi, their community almost always suffers from flooding and storm surge. Also, being a teacher of Special Education students, Husain is even more driven to learn ICS, not only for her community, but most importantly for her students. Equipped with more skills and knowledge in ICS, Husain gained the confidence in responding well and helping communities. She gave her commitment to respond and answer anytime the CamSur PDRRMC calls and activates the Incident Command System.
Staying true to its tagline, “CamSur is Ready,” the Provincial Government of Camarines Sur, now headed by Governor Luigi Villafuerte, remains steadfast in ensuring the safety of its people by strengthening the capacity of CamSur PDRRMC.
“The people of CamSur can expect that the Provincial Government is doing its best to ensure their safety through all these continuous training program,” furthered Rivero.
In the coming weeks, the CamSur PDRRMC will conduct a 45-day Responders Training Course, DRRM Summit, Formulation of the Provincial DRRM Plan 2023-2030, Provincial Simulation Exercises, and the fifth of the ladderized course of ICS Training, which is the Training for Instructor that will help create CamSur’s own group of competent CamSur instructors who will train local counterparts on ICS.
