MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Jan. 27 (PIA) --- Residents
in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will get better calamity
assistance and services once the construction of a new, fully-equipped
emergency response operation center is completed, a regional official said.
Ramil Masukat, regional disaster risk reduction management
officer, said the regional government will put up a three-storey building to
serve as headquarters of the region’s Humanitarian Emergency Action
ResponseTeam (ARMM-HEART).
The ARMM-HEART was created in 2013
to respond to emergency and humanitarian needs during man-made or natural
disasters in the region.
Masukat said the new ARMM-HEART Operation Center, which is
located inside the ARMM compound in Cotabato City, will have state-of-the-art
disaster monitoring facilities and that additional rescue equipment will be
made.
He
said the project will augment the present capacity of the ARMM-HEART. “We have
insufficient facilities and equipment to fully cater our constituents in times
of calamities and disasters. The project will make the delivery of our services
more effective. We will still monitor 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
The
project has a total cost of around P 97,000,000, which was earmarked from the
ARMM’s General Appropriations Act for 2015. ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman and
Executive Secretary Atty. Laisa Alamia led its groundbreaking on January 18,
2016. Its construction, which is being undertaken by Maguindanao’s 1st District
Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-ARMM,
is expected to be finished in September 2016.
Masukat
said they continue capacitating their volunteers and strengthening their
partnership with other stakeholders as the building of the new operation center
gets underway.
“Capacity building for our volunteers will continue. We will
also boost our partnership with other stakeholders like radio communication
groups, people’s organizations, civil society organizations, Local Government
Units, Philippine National Police, military, the International Monitoring Team,
and the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH),” he
said.
ARMM-HEART is a convergence of agencies inclined with
disaster preparedness and response. This includes the Philippine Institute of
Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), Office of Civil Defense (OCD),
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Science and
Technology (DOST), The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administration (PAGASA), Department of Interior and Local Government
(DILG), and the Regional Planning and Development Office (RPDO) among
others. (BPI-ARMM/PIA-10)
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