Rising from the Rubble - University of the Philippines

Transcription

FORUM
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
sh a p i ng
m i n d s
t h at
sh a p e
t h e
n at i on
VOLUME 15 NUMBER 1
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2014
Rising from
the Rubble
UP's Response in the Wake
of Typhoon Yolanda, Part II
See Part I, "The Day the Oblation Stood Still"
UP Forum, November-December 2013
2 | Fortun, Forensics and
the Yolanda Aftermath:
Recovery, Storage,
System Restore, Repeat
4 | After the Storm:
16 | Typhoon-toughened
Learning and Rebuilding UPM-SHS Building
with UP's Technical
Bigger and Better
he photos that found their way into social media
Assessment Team
he absence of a system—responsible for elaborately defining deaths to be investigated, identifying who will examine them and determining how
the examiners conduct the investigation—results in
misidentification and loss of bodies, stolen property,
extortion by funeral parlor personnel, fake death
claims and claimants, among numerous problems.
This observation was discussed in “Managing the
Dead in a Mass Casualty Incident,” excerpted by
UP Padayon Reports (2011) from Dr. Raquel del
Rosario-Fortun’s book Management of the Dead
n the 8th of November 2013, the world
watched as Typhoon Yolanda (international
name: Haiyan) tore through Guian, Samar, causing
widespread flooding and landslides. Said to be the
strongest storm to make landfall, the typhoon proceeded to devastate much of central Philippines.
The numbers speak for themselves. A USAID
fact sheet released at the end of last year said that
an estimated 16 million people were affected by
the storm. More than a million houses were either
damaged or destroyed, displacing about four times
T
O
T
right after typhoon Yolanda struck showed the
shocking devastation of one of UP's most remote
campuses. Pictures of the Oblation standing in front
of a washed-out, de-roofed, windowless building,
a bent flagpole, debris, and totally defoliated trees
pointed to a rare situation in which the UP Manila
School of Health Sciences campus would need to
suspend operations.
Many expressed sympathy for the state of the
small campus of 209 constituents—a pioneer in
building health manpower for the country's remote
and underserved communities, and thus responsible
2 UP FORUM Volume 15 No. 1 January-February 2014
Photo from Dr. Raquel Fortun. Cover photo by Mark Zambrano with Jonathan Umali, GMA News, https://www.facebook.com/gmanews/photos/a.126333131976.110480.116724526976/10151894239831977/?type=1&permPage=1
FORTUN, FORENSICS AND THE YOLANDA AFTERMATH...
continued from page 1
Arbeen Acuña
During Disasters: A Manual for the
Philippines (2007),”
The absence of such a system was
evident in the aftermath of typhoon
Yolanda. Another obvious consequence
was the national government’s downplaying of the number of casualties.
In her article, Dr. Fortun said an
on-call Philippine Disaster Mortuary Response Team (DMORT) with
pathologists, dentists, anthropologists
and radiologists was organized to professionalize the handling of the dead.
Among the factors the team had to
consider were: the type of incident, estimated number of fatalities, probable
condition of the remains, location of
the incident, personnel, and funding.
Initial Processes: Recover and
Store
Remains shall be retrieved as soon
as possible to improve the accuracy of
identification and “lessen the distress
among the living,” said Fortun. Site
layout prior to the incident shall be
taken into consideration so that one
can approximately determine where
best to look for passengers,
occupants or residents.
The affected area shall
be mapped so that a
systematic and expeditious search plan can be
enforced while ensuring that places already
searched are marked to
avoid useless repetitions.
Fortun mentioned
a number of means
to document relevant
details. These include
drawing a simple sketch
of the scene and marking the spot where the
bodies are recovered;
taking photographs or
videos; and mapping via
GPS (Global Positioning
device). Shots shall include over-all shots and
close-ups, if possible,
noting the date and time
the image was taken. The
documentation proce-
dures depend on the availability of
resources.
Separated body parts and items (such
as evidence and property) shall be
tagged as “PARTS” and “PROPERTY,”
emphasized Fortun. Should the respective parts and/or the items obviously
belong to a particular body, those shall
be placed with that body. Otherwise,
the location in reference to the nearest
body/bodies must be noted. In collecting and transporting remains, property
and evidence, Fortun said that a general
principle in securing physical evidence
is to ensure against loss, contamination,
tampering, switching or damage; hence,
remains shall not be exposed and must
be kept covered at all times.
As regards “contracting infectious
disease from dead bodies,” Fortun said
that the risk is small and [these] basic
measures alone [i.e. wearing heavy
duty gloves and boots, hand washing
and a change of clothes after handling remains] should be enough. She
further said that advantages in wearing masks are largely psychological,
and hence should not be encouraged
especially because it will not block
the inevitable unpleasant smell from
decomposing remains which do not
pose a health risk.
Ideally, there shall be “refrigerated container vans” with temperature at four degrees centigrade “to
preserve the remains while awaiting
examination and release,” Fortun said.
However, in reality, remains quickly
decompose due to the absence of refrigeration; thus it is practical to properly mark and accurately tag temporary
burial or embalming, which postpones
decomposition once chemical preservatives are injected into the body.
Post-Yolanda Identification:
Differences
In an interview with the UP FORUM,
Dr. Fortun, forensic pathologist and
UP College of Medicine professor who
headed the post-Sendong forensics
team of UP Padayon in 2011, recounted how the Department of Health
(DOH), under the command of the Office of the President, organized a team
to manage the identification of bodies
in the affected areas in the Visayas.
The team was led by Dr. Chito
Avelino, for “Oplan Tamang Libing”
intended to manage dead bodies postYolanda. Fortun said, “I was consulted
by DOH on Nov. 14, together with
foreign World Health Organization
(WHO) consultants. The decision on
how to organize the DOH response
team including the people involved,
the procedure on how to do the postmortem examination and antemortem
information gathering, what logistical supplies were needed, etc. was a
collaborative effort among the DOH,
the WHO and me. The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC)
were also represented in our Nov. 15
final meeting.”
With pressure brought about by
urgency, magnitude, limitations, the
team had to act fast, regardless of the
seemingly inversely proportional total
of resources and remains. “All the
remains would therefore undergo basic
examination, inventory, tagging and
orderly burial. The idea was to record
as much postmortem information as
possible, then bury the bodies without
compromising identification,” said
Fortun. The places where bodies were
retrieved were documented under
the DOH-WHO system, followed by
individual bagging, sequential tagging
and descriptive and photo-documented
physical examination.
“Initially the collection point for
Tacloban bodies was a small cemetery
in Barangay Basper. Upon our recommendation the LGU identified a site
for the collection, examination and burial of the
bodies in Barangay Suhi.
We started to bury the remains already examined
in an orderly manner,
mapped out in trenches,
to facilitate exhumation of particular bodies
for later identification.”
After recovery and storage, the next step was
identification, which was
carried out by “comparison of postmortem and
antemortem.”
continued on page 3
Fortun at Barangay Basper,
their first work site.
UP FORUM Volume 15 No. 1 January-February 2014 3
A line of casualties drawn along Basper cemetery.
FORTUN, FORENSICS AND THE YOLANDA AFTERMATH...
Commencing on Nov. 18, ten days
after the incident, these examinations
were “limited to determination of sex
and general age category (infant, child,
adult); documenting clothes, jewelry,
other personal effects like wallets,
phones; checking for tattoos.” The
team recorded the information in “a
much simplified, short form—maximum of 3 pages.” In contrast, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)
preferred the “INTERPOL way. It entailed detailed postmortem exams per
body—the forms are around 15 pages
long, complete with dental charting—
best done by a dentist, and DNA
sampling—best is to saw off a section
of the thigh bone or extract teeth.” All
these procedures, despite the fact that
they were mere fingerprinting “was not
practical, if not impossible.”
Fortun said the INTERPOL way is
“very tedious and time-consuming—
not to mention the packaging, labeling,
and storage of the samples, though
not necessarily more accurate than
the DOH-WHO way” and that “NBI
merely mentions DNA sampling,
not actual testing.” She added, “The
insistence of the NBI—and the PNP
which is tasked to take charge of
‘man-made’ disaster victim identification or DVI—on using the INTERPOL
protocol is not practical.
It is also not universally
accepted. First-world
countries with death
investigation systems
in place (e.g. US, UK,
Japan) do not rely on the
INTERPOL system. The
emphasis on DNA in the
identification of victims
of mass disasters in 3rd
world countries is also
misplaced.”
Fortun expressed
uncertainty whether the
Volunteers amid the buried
and unburied dead at Basper
cemetery.
NBI’s decisions were geared “toward
understating or delaying the official
death toll.” She “believe[s] it is more
of institutional arrogance, insisting
that they are in charge even if they are
undermanned, minimally trained and
ill-equipped for the job.” She said that
the NBI attended the aforesaid Nov.
15 DOH meeting. “The NBI officerin-charge and their chief medico-legal
doctor” were present when the group
agreed that they “would be assigned
to different places in the Visayas and
were to work separately,” given that
“there were so many dead.” She further
said, “ the NBI had no disaster victim
identification (DVI) system in place
when the DOH team started work in
Tacloban on Nov. 18. Then on Nov. 22,
they practically grabbed what the DOH
had set up and they just had to work
also in Tacloban. There is no news of
the NBI examining the dead in other
places.”
Pre-Yolanda Propositions: Reprise
“The unpleasant encounter with
the NBI over forensic matters such as
DVI is not new or unique to the DOH
Tacloban experience,” said Fortun,
since it had happened “when UP sent
a forensic team to help Iligan with its
dead, post-Sendong. The same thing
happened although the confrontation
was slightly more civil [then]. The
3-day trip to Iligan in 2011 was a waste
of time and resources, forensics-wise.”
Despite existing documents with
relevant information for capacitybuilding and post-disaster measures,
it seems that the same mistakes are
repeated because recommendations of
field experts and concerned stakeholders were not applied and tested. This
is perhaps due to limited resources,
the aforesaid “institutional arrogance,”
and the inadequate political will of the
national government to institutionalize
new, better systems.
“Every time we encounter a disaster
with multiple casualties—and they are
occurring with alarming regularity—
we panic and scramble when confronted with so many dead bodies.
We do not learn from each incident
but merely react, come up with some
semblance of a management-of-thedead response and once the bodies are
buried—typically unidentified, they
are soon forgotten,” said Fortun. She
reiterated her suggestion in her 2007
article that calls for the institutionalization of a DMORT, “preferably
within the more general context of
finally setting a national death investigation system. The present ‘system’
merely assigns ‘natural’ disasters
to NBI and the ‘man-made’ ones to
PNP. Neither of them is up to the task.
Ironically this is according to DOH
Administrative Order 2007-18, from
the institution itself which is supposed
to be in charge of the dead.”
“Death is a health concern and
therefore death investigation—identification, cause and manner determination—falls under the mandate of the
DOH, not the police or an agency like
the NBI. This is how it goes in developed countries,” said Fortun. “It was
such a pleasant surprise therefore for
DOH to actually organize a forensic
team for Yolanda’s dead. I very willingly helped when asked to. But it
was such a disappointment that they
dissolved the team they organized after
only a week. Later I was told it was
upon orders of the OP. Too bad even
the dead like the survivors were victims twice over, of the strongest storm
ever recorded, and petty politics.”
Perhaps the post-disaster tragedy—
of downplaying the effects of the actual
disaster for the sake of the government’s popularity ratings—is beyond
“petty politics.” With this mismanagement comes criminal injustice,
which perpetuates, with the issue of
overpriced bunkhouses, among many
overlapping layers of corrupt practices
that cost human lives. This post-disaster tragedy of the Aquino
government’s indolence
and insensitivity merits
prosecution. If we go by
Oxford dictionary’s definition that “forensics”
pertains to “scientific
tests or techniques used
in connection with the
detection of crime,” then
this article is an attempt
at gathering and presenting “forensic evidence”
suggesting that a crime
of neglect has been committed, and the culprits
remain at large. The justice that the victims and
plaintiffs demand is yet
to be served, as the order
of damages, with other
accompanying penalties,
is yet to be pronounced.
-------------------Email the author at
[email protected].
AFTER THE STORM...
Andre Encarnacion
that number in the process. Most unfortunate of all, more than six thousand people were recorded to have
perished. At the time of this writing,
bodies were still being found across
the Visayas.
And on that day, watching intently
with the rest of the world was Jose
Danilo Silvestre, director of the UP
Diliman Office for Initiatives for
Culture and the Arts (OICA).
Like many others, Silvestre felt the
urge to help but was unsure how to
do so. As a professor and administrator of UP, however, he was further
motivated by two UP campuses
reportedly ravaged by the typhoon.
These were the UP Visayas Tacloban
College and the UP School of Health
team—a collection of experts from
various disciplines whose output
would guide rehabilitation efforts.
The team's initial sortie had two
primary objectives. The first was to
do an advanced assessment of the
damage done to both UP Tacloban
and the School of Health Sciences.
The second, which would be accomplished simultaneously, was to
get a first-hand appreciation of what
happened to the surrounding cities of
these schools.
"Very good," the President told
him. "Organize the team and we'll
support it."
Assembly
Assembling such a diverse cast of
professor, Dr. Mahar Lagmay, who
immediately volunteered his services.
He would also bring with him a pair
of researchers, Jerico E. Mendoza
and John Kenneth B. Suarez from
Project NOAH, to assist him.
For the team's structural and civil
engineers, he asked the advice of a
friend, Prof. Oscar Antonio, associate
dean of the College of Engineering.
He and Silvestre had been working
on the new College of Engineering
master plan when Typhoon Yolanda
hit the country.
"Oca, I need a structural engineer
and a civil engineer to accompany
me," he told Antonio. "Could you
suggest anybody?"
"Ako, Dan," was Antonio's quick
First Sight
Even before a member of the team
had set foot in the Visayas, the team
found its first breakthrough through
former UP professor Bangy Dioquino
who had recently returned from an
eight-year stint in Korea.
Dioquino and his team had embarked on a most useful venture.
"They do aerial photogrammetry
using small drones. Because of that
they were able to go in very, very
fast," Silvestre said. In fact Dioquino
and his team were able to provide
photogrammetric data six days after
Haiyan hit.
These expeditions allowed Dioquino
to supply the team with vital information on ground-level conditions that
Photos taken during the team's assessment of the damage inflicted by Typhoon Yolanda on the UPV-Tacloban campus and its buildings.
Photos by Arch. Jose Danilo Silvestre
Sciences in Palo.
"I felt that we had to see first-hand
what had actually occurred," he said,
"not just what we heard from the
news accounts."
In addition to his current post,
Silvestre is also well-known both as
an architect and an environmental
planner—a dual expertise that would
be of great significance. Furthermore,
his organizational skills and standing
as the former dean of the UP College
of Architecture would also come into
good use later.
After a meeting with UP President
Alfredo E. Pascual and Vice President for Public Affairs Prospero De
Vera, Silvestre finally had his opportunity to help. He became the first
member of UP's technical assessment
characters with the narrow window
available to make a difference was
the first challenge. The assessment
team, Silvestre remembers telling
the president, should not only be
composed of architects, and planners but also geohazards experts and
engineers to analyze the effect of the
typhoon on buildings, structures and
infrastructure.
By then, he already had one volunteer: fellow architect-planner, Prof.
Michael Tomeldan from the College
of Architecture. This provided him
with the initial piece of the assessment puzzle. Now he needed to find
the others.
Silvestre then contacted noted
geohazards expert and UP National
Institute of Geology (UP-NIGS)
reply. "I want to go."
Antonio also had a colleague,
Prof. William Mata from the Institute of Civil Engineering, who was
interested in joining. Finally, through
Vice President De Vera, Silvestre was
introduced to Dr. Kristoffer Berse,
faculty of the UP National College
of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG) having also
earned a PhD in Urban Engineering
from Tokyo.
"Perfect," Silvestre remarked.
"That way we'd also have that governance perspective, which would
come into play later."
With Berse's addition, Silvestre's team
was ready to deploy. And by the end of
November, with the Visayas still in turmoil, they got their marching orders.
would guide their progress. "They did
the work gratis, without any charges,
and they met with us and provided us
with the information."
"We met also at Mahar’s office, and
showed him the information, and he
said 'this is perfect, there is a lot of
information we can gather from that.'"
Actually getting to Leyte, however, was slightly more complicated.
Because of the state of confusion
caused by the typhoon, Silvestre and
his team fou
nd themselves on
separate flights, with Silvestre arriving a day in advance of everyone
else. After meeting with UP Tacloban
Dean Anita Cular, with some of the
faculty and administrative staff of
UP Tacloban, he did an initial ocular
continued on page 5
AFTER THE STORM...
inspection of both the damage to the
school and to the surrounding areas.
"All along the road leading from
the airport to the city, you could see
debris," Silvestre noted. "The areas
near the airport were hit hard. The
roads were cleared, because that's the
first priority. But the informal communities, fishermen's communities...
Those were flattened. It was like a
war zone."
The rest of the team arrived the
following day after initially being
bumped off their flight. As they could
with those who experienced the
storm surge first-hand.
The team attempted to rent a van
for their visit to the School of Health
Sciences in Palo, Leyte and a 113hectare site owned by UP in Sta.
Elena. This attempt was stymied,
however, as vehicles were by then in
very short supply, so many of them
having been damaged by the storm
surge beyond repair.
Fortunately, the church of Dr.
Charlie Labarda of the UP SHS had a
van the team could borrow. The team
then decided to optimize by splitting
the remaining survey work. Silvestre,
higher floors were relatively in sound
condition. In fact, the 2nd floor of
the Main Building was already being
used to store relief goods. It was only
at the ground floor that documents,
furnishings and school equipment
were damaged or destroyed.
Dean Cular, with the faculty, staff
and students had already done a
substantial amount of work: clearing
debris, cleaning the various facilities
and trying to rehabilitate whatever
they could with the limited resources
they had. They had also prepared
one of the second floor classrooms,
screened the windows against the
ever, the main building was lucky.
Given how all the debris seemed to
fall in the same direction, all the tree
trunks missed the building, colliding
instead with the lightly-constructed
covered walks. "So nag-collapse
yung covered walks at may damage
sa roofs. But that was pretty much it.
The rest of the structures were okay."
The college library, museum and
multipurpose hall told a similar
story. While the roof of the library
was nearly completely blown off
and the third-floor windows of the
multipurpose hall were practically
gone, the structures themselves stood
Photos by Arch. Jose Danilo Silvestre
The team assesses Typhoon Yolanda's impact on the UPM-School of Health Sciences campus. Top photo, extreme left, shows two members of the team, Engr. Oscar Antonio (left)
and Arch. Michael Tomeldan (right). Arch. Tomeldan is also shown taking pictures in top photo, third from left.
not fit everyone in the service vehicle
provided by UP Tacloban Associate Dean Anida Lorenzo, the Project
NOAH team took the first trip from
the airport. What they saw on the
way was so arresting that they could
not help but stop several times along
the way to survey the scenes of the
disaster, and take photographs.
At the airport, Tomeldan, Antonio
and Mata were likewise making productive use of their time. Rather than
passively waiting for the return of the
vehicle, the remaining trio decided
to walk almost four kilometers after
surveying the damage at the airport,
doing similar work on the areas along
the way. The service vehicle eventually picked them up along the road.
Upon reaching UP Tacloban, and
after a brief meeting with Silvestre
to coordinate activities, Tomeldan
joined the engineers in assessing the
structures and campus. Dr. Lagmay's
group turned over an initial set of
hazard maps to Dean Cular after a
brief meeting, and some interviews
Tomeldan, Antonio and Mata set off
for Palo; while Lagmay, and the Project NOAH team made their way on
foot and by tricycle toward Tacloban
proper.
"Aside from the campus, they
looked at the city. They went to the
port area, where there were ships
that were lifted by the storm surge
and brought down on the shanties,"
Silvestre said.
Tacloban Campus
"You know, surprisingly, and a bit to
our relief, although UP Tacloban was
hit by the storm surge, the damage
was relatively light," Silvestre said.
Virtually all the major buildings were
structurally sound—meaning that in
terms of the frame and the walls of the
building, they were in no danger of
collapsing. "There was no structural
damage other than the roofs."
In a reconstruction of what happened, Silvestre narrated that while
the ground floor of the main building
was completely inundated, all the
onslaught of mosquitoes for the team
to use as its quarters while there.
Electricity and water, on the other
hand, had not been restored. The only
power available was from a small
portable generator which could only
run for a few hours in the afternoon
to run a few laptops, and charge
devices like flashlights, emergency
lights, and mobile phones. At night,
the genset ran from 8pm to 2am to
provide minimum lighting for the
campus.
Fortuitously, the main building
was protected by the once-verdant
UP Botanical Garden. Stories claim
that the wind and the storm surge
smashed into and uprooted many of
the trees. "They were carried by the
water across the road, where they hit
the perimeter fence of UP Tacloban,
which essentially collapsed along the
whole stretch of the road." When the
fence collapsed, the storm surge carried the fallen trees and dumped them
into the campus.
From the team's assessment, how-
firm. Like the main building, the first
floors of these buildings were both
inundated. But with cleaning, diligent
repairs and new equipment, these
buildings could potentially be used
again.
That's not to say that the storm
surge did not cause its fair share of
scares and devastation on campus.
Silvestre shared stories of students
in the UP Tacloban dormitories who
were treading water and literally
grabbing hold of ceiling fans when
the storm surge hit. Luckily, the
storm surge subsided about ten minutes after it came.
If the main building was shielded
by tall trees, the northwest portion
of the campus was shielded in turn
by the elevated site of the Leyte Park
Hotel. Surprisingly, the windows
fronting the storm surge did not
break, leading the team to conclude
that perhaps the storm surge was not
as strong in this area as it was in the
rest of the city.
continued on page 11
Psychosocial Aspects of Healing
Helping Yolanda Survivors Find Wellness, Wholeness,
Growth and Healing
Violeta V. Bautista
D
isasters impact strongly on the
whole being of the individuals,
groups and families affected. This
means that disasters not only harm
the physical health and economic
stability of victims. It also affects
their mental, spiritual, social and
emotional well-being.
The good news is that the majority of survivors can pull themselves
together and deal with the aftermath,
especially if they are provided psychosocial support.
Psychosocial Support in the field
of disaster mental health (referred to
as MHPSS as representing mental
health and psychosocial support or
MHPSS) are strategies and programs
that seek to help individuals, families and communities (i) rebound
from crisis; (ii) moderate their stress
reactions to disaster; (iii) resist forces
towards hopelessness and destabilization, and (iv) develop strengths and
competencies not only to survive, but
also to grow in the face of disaster.
In the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda, the UP Diliman Department of
Psychology (UPDDP) marshalled its
resources and competencies to reach
out to individuals, groups, and families
affected by the typhoon.
A few weeks after the disaster, students
from UP Visayas Tacloban College (UPVTC) started to cross enrol at the UP Diliman Campus. The UPDDP had its share
of majors from UPVTC enrolling in both
psychology and non-psychology subjects.
There were also UPVTC students who
took psychology courses as electives.
Dr. Violeta Bautista speaks to UP Tacloban students at the orientation program for cross-enrollees held at the Palma Hall Annex, UP Diliman.
and had the opportunity to share their
needs and concerns as new students in
the campus who are also recovering
from a disaster experience. Some of
these students continue to meet with
the teachers and students they had met
in the welcome gathering for updates
and affirmation of friendship bonds.
The Department also partnered with
the Department of Computer Sciences
and the Department of Biology in
reaching out to students affected by
Typhoon Yolanda. Volunteer faculty,
graduate students and alumni of the
UPDDP provided individual and/or
group psychosocial processing to af-
weakness or of psychiatric illness, but
a creative and responsible way of helping oneself move forward after a most
trying experience.
In response to the request of UP
Diliman faculty, the UPDDP collaborated with the Office of the Director
of Instruction to conduct a workshop
for UP Diliman faculty members on
addressing the psychosocial needs of
students.
One of the venues where the Department began to reach out was Facebook.
They created posts to let people know
that they were providing psychological
support to students and employees who
have relatives living in provinces ravaged by the storm.
Aside from this, the Department also offered an intensive
three-day training workshop—
Photos from the UP Diliman Department of Psychology
UP Diliman Department of Psychology chair Dr. Grace Aquiling Dalisay welcomes UP
Tacloban cross-enrollees to UP Diliman.
As an expression of the Department’s
wish to welcome and lend support to
its students from UP Tacloban, the
Department hosted a welcome gathering for both their psychology majors
and non-psych cross enrollees from UP
Tacloban. In the welcome gathering,
the UP Tacloban students made friends
with UP Diliman students and faculty,
were oriented on Diliman campus life,
fected students from these departments.
Through such activities, the students
were able to enhance their effectiveness in dealing with life’s challenges.
Headed by the UPDDP Wellness
Committee, these groups began to
offer life coaching and psychotherapy
sessions. Affected students and families are now discovering that seeking
psychosocial support is not a sign of
"Bringing Hope to Disaster Survivors:
A Course on Application of Psychosocial Support in Disaster Situations."
The workshop was attended by 30
graduate students and faculty. UNILAB expressed its solidarity with
the Department’s efforts at capacity
building by providing free meals and
snacks while the Philippine Pediatric
Society gave the group free use of their
seminar room and facilities.
After the workshop, some of the
attendees began sharing what they
learned with other colleagues so more
people could help disaster victims
more effectively.
More recently, relief workers from
Barangay Amorsolo have asked the
Department to assist them in providing care not just to the victims they
were helping, but to their own staff as
well. Once more, the UPDDP Wellness
Committee is mobilizing its volunteer
psychologists to provide communitybased care for barangay workers who
are feeling the strain of journeying
with individuals and families who
have survived Yolanda but continue to
deal with the ravages that the disaster
experience brings. The Department’s
volunteer psychologists will also be
meeting with the affected families living in the UP campus to engage them
in kumustahan, a process expected
to clarify the families’ psychosocial
needs and the ways that they wish to
be helped by friend-psychologists from
the UP community. The meeting is
expected to help create opportunities
that will make it easier for affected
individuals and communities to access
psychosocial support being provided
by the Department.
Seeing the need to provide an environment conducive to helping relationship not only for those affected by the
Yolanda typhoon but also for those
seeking growth and healing from the
Department’s volunteer and professional psychologists, the College of Social
Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP) has
designated rooms within the Palma
Hall building for psychological support
and psychotherapy. These rooms will
serve as places where wellness and
wholeness activities will be offered for
CSSP and UP campus constituents.
Even before Yolanda, the UPDDP,
together with other UP units, already
saw the possibility that disasters can
continued on page 7
UP CWS Extends Psychosocial
Support, Commits to Rebuild
Photo from the UP Diliman Department of Psychology
Fred Dabu
T
he University of the Philippines
Center for Women's Studies (UP
CWS), a UP system-wide office, was
among the immediate responders to
extend relief and psychosocial support
to the survivors of typhoon Yolanda
last November.
Dr. Sylvia Estrada-Claudio, director
of the UP CWS and professor at the UP
College of Social Work and Community Development (UP CSWCD), shared
some of her insights and recommendations for the UP community.
PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS...
hit a UP college or even a whole
UP community such as
what happened in UP
Tacloban. In the spirit
inspired by the framework of DRRM (Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management), the
UP system through UP
Padayon has instituted
a system-wide disaster
preparedness program.
The program includes
a workshop on Disaster
Preparedness that will
be brought to different
campuses of the University of the Philippines.
The workshop was first
conducted in UP Diliman
in October 2013. The
second run took place in UP Baguio,
on the second week of January this
year. The Department is pleased that
the UP System sees the importance
of including a section on MHPSS in
the workshop’s curriculum. Indeed
responsible preparation for disasters
and true healing from the ravages of
disasters necessarily require a component on learning the knowledge
and skills of providing mental health
and psychosocial support (MHPSS).
There is a saying that “To whom
much is given, much is also expected.”
The faculty and students of the Department of Psychology feel that they are
recipients of much blessing because
of their training and competencies in
helping disaster survivors. And so it is
their desire to be able to use their skills
to really help people find wellness,
wholeness, growth and healing.
-------------------Dr. Bautista is chair of the UPDDP
Wellness Committee and head of the
Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program.
Email her at [email protected].
Cut the bureaucracy
According to Claudio "cutting the
bureaucracy in times of disasters" to be
able to immediately address the needs
of survivors is "one of the most important principles in psychosocial relief
support." She said the UP Tacloban
coordinator relayed vital information
about their immediate needs, information which also hinted at the level
of rehabilitation faced by survivors,
which allowed the UP administration
to respond accordingly.
Claudio said the UP CWS has since
been assisting survivors and volunteers
alike. Its linkages with the gender of-
them," Claudio said. During the first
week, the set of requested relief goods
included food and other basic needs
like candles, flashlights, and chlorine
tablets for the purification of drinking
water. Recent requests, meanwhile,
included mosquito nets and “trapal” for
their temporary shelters. Old shower
curtains would also be needed in relocation centers "because the need for
privacy is always there."
Integrate the support measures
The UP CWS held orientation seminars for counsellors and volunteers
who can give psychosocial assistance
and counselling to survivors. We had
a series of orientation seminars for UP
and non-UP volunteers going to the relief areas or working with the people at
Villamor (airbase)," recounted Claudio.
Integrating psychosocial support measures with other services, not making it
a separate activity, is another principle
in giving psychosocial support. "You
integrate these support measures with
the services of every team that goes to
meet survivors. These survivors can be
the people who were hit by the storm,
the people who have been transported
tries, especially due to climate change,
Claudio said disaster preparedness
and psychosocial support trainings
should be systematized and done in all
colleges and campuses. "Scientists are
saying things would get worse. There's
a new normal. Then we must have a
more systematized program of support
and skills."
Claudio also expressed optimism
that their training with the MMDA
last year improved their capability to
give psychosocial support when they
were deployed in the affected areas.
"Our strength would be on being very
sensitive to vulnerable populations like
women and children, the elderly and
the disabled, and giving emphasis to
community organizing and solidarity
relationships as the real backbone of
recovery and rehabilitation in terms of
psychosocial support work," she said.
Since differently-affected students,
faculty and staff of UP have varying
needs, Claudio acknowledged the important contributions and psychosocial
support efforts by other UP units, such
as the Office of the UP Diliman Vice
Chancellor for Student Affairs, the Department of Psychology of the College
Photos from the UP Center for Women's Studies Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/upcws/photos_stream
Above: Dr. Sylvia Claudio,
director of the UP Center
for Women's Studies
fices of the UP campuses in Tacloban,
Iloilo, Cebu and Mindanao facilitated
moves to help the people in areas devastated by the typhoon. Coordination
with the UP Tacloban office "served as
a very good channel for (responding
to) the needs of the staff and faculty of
UP Tacloban."
UP CWS activity updates, as well
as call for donations, were posted in
their web site and Facebook page. The
UP CWS and the UP CWS Foundation gathered donations "with particular emphasis on the often neglected
needs of women and children, such as
sanitary napkins and adult and baby
diapers," and sent sanitary kits coursed
through the CSWCD.
"When I was helping with packing
relief goods at the CSWCD, I noticed
we quickly ran out of children's clothes
and underwear, as well as women's and
men's underwear. We had to purchase
to Villamor, and, often neglected, the
first responders," she said.
According to Claudio, psychosocial
support is seen in the "creative, resourceful, and compassionate volunteer
who will problem-solve." It could be as
simple as giving proper information to
people or looking for their basic needs,
such as food and water, locating their
loved ones, transportation, and others.
"If we can answer with compassion
and adequate information, then that is
already a very important aspect of psychosocial support. You have to be very
good at problem-solving. You have to
be very respectful and compassionate.
You have to be culturally-sensitive,"
she said.
Systematize disaster
preparedness
Noting that the Philippines ranks
very high among disaster-prone coun-
of Social Sciences and Philosophy, and
the College of Education.
Review the budget process
According to Claudio, as soon as the
typhoon hit, the UP CWS immediately
imposed forced savings by scaling
down its silver anniversary and Christmas celebrations while trying to find
ways to efficiently and legally use their
resources for the relief efforts. However, regulations on the use of funds
and the budgeting process would have
to be reviewed if the UP CWS is to be
allowed to re-allocate or set aside an
emergency fund for disaster response.
Claudio plans to save 20 percent of
their annual budget for possible use in
disaster relief. "I understand why these
regulations are important—to avoid
malversation, corruption, or misuse
of funds. But perhaps we should also
To Serve and To Heal
The Ugnayan ng Pahinungod Manila’s
Yolanda Relief Operations
The UP Manila Ugnayan ng Pahinungod Team goes to Guiuan via C130 for a medical mission.
Carlos Primero Gundran, Salvador Isidro Destura & KIM Quilinguing
O
n November 12, 2013, four days
after Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck several areas in the Visayas
region, two doctors from UP Manila set
out for Tacloban City to investigate the
extent of damage in the city, particularly
in UP Visayas’Tacloban College campus and the School of Health Sciences
in Palo, Leyte.
Aside from investigation, the twoman team also assessed the challenges
to medical professionals and volunteers
from the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod Manila in assisting the victims of the super
typhoon and the affected members of
the university community.
Yolanda was not the first time the
Ugnayan ng Pahinungod provided
medical assistance. A few weeks before
the storm ravaged Samar and Leyte,
the organization had sent a team to
conduct relief efforts in Bohol after a
7.2-magnitude earthquake devastated
much of the island.
All-volunteer, service-oriented
organization
Formed in 1994,
the Ugnayan ng
Pahinungod Manila
is an all-volunteer,
service-oriented
organization providing knowledge
and skills from the
university’s health
and sciences center
to underserved areas
in the country. In the
aftermath of several
natural disasters in
the early 90’s, a Disaster Management
Program was created
by a committee of
the Pahinungod and
integrated into the
organization’s activities in 1994.
The program provides for the formation of medical relief
operations teams which will respond to
disasters in any part of the country in
the soonest possible time. These operations require cooperation with national
government agencies, local government units, non-government organizations and international relief agencies.
Volunteers to the relief operations
teams are trained in all aspects of
disaster response. Other members of
the UP Manila community also get
involved in the collection of goods and
materials which may be needed by the
disaster-affected areas.
By October 1995, the Pahinungod
was already conducting disasters management activities in San Fernando,
Pampanga. Among the services they
provided were:
• direct medical services to the
community.
• psychosocial processing of the
care givers and community
members
• education and training
• sanitation programs in the
community
• assistance in livelihood projects
• sorting of medicines
• assistance in relief operations
The program has continued over
the years, becoming more of a training course on campus. In 2011, the
program was reorganized and was officially re-launched in September 2013.
Since then, the Pahinungod’s Disaster Management Program has performed the following functions in the
communities where they conduct their
operations:
• Educate the local community
based on the Community Program on Disaster Preparedness.
• Create awareness in the local
community on coordinating with
various agencies/LGU’s in times
of crisis/need.
• Perform risk assessments for
the community and make the
appropriate recommendations to
mitigate these risks.
• Act as observers in specific drills
and trainings related to disaster
management.
• Monitor the degree of learning thru drills, simulations, and
exercises.
• Apply the knowledge and skills
gained in disaster management
to their respective community
and other community immersion
programs.
• Teach and train the local communities on proper disaster management.
The re-organized program also included additional training and activities
encompassing the various phases of
disaster management.
Post-Sendong relief operations
in Iligan City
In December 2011, the Pahinungod sent a team to Iligan City in the
aftermath of Tropical Storm Sendong
(Washi). The team was joined by experts in geology, psychosocial therapy,
local governance and other fields from
UP Diliman. The composite team,
spearheaded by officials of the UP
System administration, is known today
as the UP Padayon
Disaster Response
Team.
Along with the
team members from
Diliman, the Pahinungod’s experience
in disaster response
and the knowledge
of its experts in pubcontinued on page 9
The Ugnayan ng
Pahinungod team
prepares to board the
C130.
The Ugnayan ng Pahinungod team treating survivors and helping unload relief goods at Guiuan.
TO SERVE AND TO HEAL...
lic health, forensic pathology, health
care and medicine proved to be invaluable in providing post-disaster services
in the affected areas in Iligan City.
Since then, the Pahinungod has
conducted relief operations in several
areas in the country struck by natural
disasters. These include the postTyphoon Pablo relief operations in
Davao Oriental; floods in Cavite; and
the 7.2-magnitude earthquake which
struck Bohol.
The ‘Pahinungod’ way of relief
operations
With years of experience in disaster
relief operations in several parts of the
country, the Pahinungod conducts its
missions in a coordinated approach
which considers all the necessities for
its actions in the field.
A disaster response
team of the Pahinungod
is organized as soon as
instructions from the
UP President, the UP
Manila Chancellor or the
Philippine General Hospital Director are given.
These instructions carry
the objectives which the
team will do their best
to achieve in the area
affected by the recent
calamity.
Among the factors
considered by the team
members in organizing
an operation is information from the affected
area regarding the local
population, lay of the
land, security, availability of public infrastructure and accessibility.
Reports from locals in
the devastated area are vital.
As no operation can be conducted
without proper supplies and goods
distributed to the locals affected by
the disaster, the Pahinungod mobilizes
volunteer members of the UP Manila
community and calls on UP System offices for support in the form of goods,
security, financial assistance and transportation.
The Pahinungod does not have its
own warehouse for relief goods and
donations only pour into its offices after a call is raised. Once the donations
start coming, they come in quantities
enough for distribution in the areas to
be served by the relief operations team.
While the relief goods and assistance
extended to the Pahinungod in its relief
operations are similar to those given to
other relief organizations in the country, what makes its Disaster Management Program unique is the expertise
of its volunteers in the various fields of
health care. This gives the Pahinungod
its own brand of disaster response.
The relief mission to Tacloban
and Palo
The disaster response team faced
many challenges. Among these were:
difficulties in access to transportation
and food; total collapse of telecommunications infrastructure (cellular,
radio, satellite); lack of electricity; and
security concerns.
Aside from identifying difficulties,
the two-man initial team was also tasked
to: 1) determine where the students and
staff of UPSHS in Palo, Leyte were, and
possibly extract them if needed; 2) and
determine the distribution area.
devastation.
In Palo, the UPSHS campus was a
total wreck with only debris brought by
the storm scattered on the ground. Only
a semblance of the buildings remained.
Similar to that which happened in
the UPV Tacloban College campus,
the Oblation also survived Yolanda’s
onslaught and remained standing near a
bent flag pole.
In the immediate aftermath of the
typhoon, students from the UPSHS
helped the local population with the
training they had as health and medical
sciences students. Miraculously, there
was no casualty among the faculty,
staff and students of the school.
Aside from trying to locate the other
members of the UP community in Tacloban and Palo, the Pahinungod team
conducted medical and relief goods
distribution missions in these areas in
On November 18, 2013, the relief
team composed of security personnel;
mountaineering experts; and medical
and healthcare professionals arrived
in Tacloban City in a relief column of
several vehicles, including a bus and a
10-wheeler truck carrying relief good
from the other constituent units of the
UP System. This was after the convoy
made the journey from Manila to the
city via land and the “roll-on, roll-off”
(RORO) ferry.
The relief team arrived at the UPVisayas Tacloban College campus and
found it devastated. Strewn on the
campus grounds were debris from the
buildings, fallen branches from trees
and other materials swept by the storm
surge. Surprisingly, the Oblation was
intact and proudly standing amid the
as orderly a manner as possible.
In Palo, the recipients were chosen
from a list of evacuation centers in the
municipality. The local government
provided a list with four evacuation
centers where the services of the Pahinungod team were needed. The team
chose the center which had the most
number of evacuees.
The team’s doctors later found out
that many of the survivors visited the
relief operations areas to avail of free
medicine. Many were not seriously
injured or suffering from illnesses
resulting from the calamity.
The conduct of the operations was
not without its challenges. Among the
difficulties encountered was the need
for a system that would distribute relief
goods in an orderly manner. In one in-
Photos from the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod Manila Facebook page,
https://www.facebook.com/pahinungod/photos_stream
stance, there was a local teenager who
encouraged the people to start a new
line other than that formed by the relief
team members. The teenager had to be
reprimanded to maintain the smooth
distribution of relief goods for those
who were already in line.
There were also locals who caused
confusion by advising the relief team
to conduct its operations in a location
other than that which was designated
by Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez. When confronted by the team
members, one individual argued that
the team should listen to him since the
Mayor did not know what the survivors needed and where they were most
needed.
Another challenge confronted by the
team was the difficulty in communications. The lack of landline, mobile and
even satellite phone facilities limited the coordination and
movement of the relief
operations in Tacloban
City and Palo. Internet
access was also very
difficult days after the
disaster.
Despite all these difficulties, the Pahinungod
relief team and those
who accompanied them
conducted the operations
in the best way possible. Given the limited
resources they brought
with them from Manila,
they made the most
out of a very difficult
situation using their
knowledge on disaster
management, health
sciences and the medical
profession.
In this age of climate
change, the Ugnayan
ng Pahinungod Manila
is expected to deploy its
teams in more parts of the country
as storms get stronger and floods occur more frequently. With its dedication to disaster response and its
expertise and skills, the Pahinungod
embodies UP’s commitment to serve
and to heal.
-------------------Dr. Carlos Primero Gundran is
the Disaster Drill coordinator for
UP Manila. He is also the Disaster
Management and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) coordinator for
the UP-Philippine General Hospital. Dr. Salvador Isidro Destura
is the dean of the UP School of
Health Sciences campus in Palo,
Leyte. Email the authors at forum@
upd.edu.ph.
Hope of the Future
Student Leaders Speak Up Post-Yolanda
Stephanie S. Cabigao
S
tudents may look at natural
calamities differently after the
recent Super Typhoon Yolanda
devastated the whole of Eastern
Visayas. Students may start thinking about the road ahead for safety,
preparedness and rehabilitation in
times of disasters, by ignoring which
students, faculty and staff of UP Tacloban and Palo, among others, were
left in a vulnerable situation.
The most vital part of planning,
say representatives from student
institutions, is that efforts must not
only provide relief and psychosocial
activities but also long-term solutions for the sustenance of those
affected.
In an interview with the UP
FORUM (UPF), Student Regent
(SR) Krista V. Melgarejo and UP
Diliman University Student Council
Councilor (USCC) Allynna-Haneefa
A. Macapado talk about disaster
vulnerabilities, impacts, adaptation,
mitigation and current agenda on
disaster risk management.
Q. How did Typhoon Yolanda
affect the students in the disasterstricken regions?
SR: During the first few days after
Typhoon Yolanda hit the Eastern
Visayas area, our students experienced a lot of emotional struggles
upon hearing horrible news from
their hometowns. During that period,
I encountered one UP Diliman student who cried her heart out because
she had heard that several members
of her family died during the tragedy. She didn't know what to do
and could
not even
think
about
where
to get
money for
her tuition
and how
she would
survive.
All she
knew was
that she
lost her
loved ones.
But now, a
few months
after the
tragedy, and
knowing
that their
lives will
never be the
same again,
our students
are rising up
and calling on
the UP administration and
the national
government
to immediately
address the demands of our countrymen from Eastern Visayas.
USCC: Students affected by Typhoon Yolanda are now most vul-
nerable to the self-serving national
administration the Philippines has.
Despite the damage the typhoon has
brought, it seems that the administration is not sincere in its actions
to help the victims. The government’s rehabilitation program is
very slow and the prices of goods
and commodities in affected areas
are exponentially increasing. More
than anything else, aside from the
psychological and emotional support
students from Eastern Visayas need,
their primary concerns are immediate rehabilitation of their campuses
and housing units as well as maximum financial assistance from the
government for them to be able to
continue their studies. Without the
national government's quick action
to decrease tuition fees in universities, the students would not see any
hope in even stepping at the doorsteps of any university again.
Q. How did Typhoon Yolanda affect UP students?
SR: Super Typhoon Yolanda
caused a lot of problems for our
students, not only in their homes but
also with their studies. Those who
cross-registered in other constituent universities are having problems
with different subjects and curricula. They are also struggling with
their STFAP re-bracketting. Student
leaders have reported to the Office
of the Student Regent (OSR) that
cross-registrants still have to go
through a rigorous process to prove
that they were heavily affected by
Visayas Tacloban College and the UP
Manila School of Health Sciences
in Palo, Leyte were devastated by
the typhoon, with their buildings
almost impossible to rehabilitate.
The typhoon has led the students,
both the affected and not, to maximize all possible means to help their
fellow Iskolar ng Bayan. More than
that, the typhoon has encouraged the
students to voice their demands to
the administration. It is in times like
this that the mandate of the USC to
serve not just the students but the
entire Filipino people is put to a test.
The USC, being the highest governing body of the studentry faced the
challenge of seeing the connection
between the impact of typhoon Yolanda and the current issues affecting Philippine society and explain
these to the students.
Q. In terms of adaptation and
mitigation, what were the practices, options, and constraints
that students encountered? What
measures do you recommend for
the benefit of all stakeholders?
SR: Proper disaster risk management, from the time the disaster
occurred until its aftermath, not
only providing relief efforts and
psychosocial activities but also
long-term plans to continually
support those who are affected.
USCC: Currently, the affected
students, most especially those
who chose to continue their
studies in Tacloban and Palo,
(labs, etc). For their meals, UP sponsors one meal for each student a day.
The students are asking if this can be
extended to three meals. So far, all
assistance that the UP Tacloban and
UP Palo have been getting are largely
from private entities and from the
little help the other UP units provide.
However, what the affected students
need is not charity from different individuals or groups. What they need
is a policy or memorandum from the
Board of Regents
Top photo: Student Regent
(SR) Krista V. Melgarejo.
Middle photo: UP Diliman
USC Councilor AllynnaHaneefa A. Macapado.
Bottom photo: UP Tacloban
students for 1000 Meals
Concert and Black Shirt Day
Protest.
the typhoon.
USCC: A significant percentage
of the UP student population has
been greatly affected by the typhoon. Two of its campuses, the UP
are asking the university to automatically re-bracket them to Bracket E2.
Dorms / residence halls in these campuses are also in need of immediate
repair. The students are also badly in
need of working academic facilities
stating concrete
assistance from
the UP System
administration,
like automatic
re-bracketing
to E2 of the
students, waiving their dorm
fee until they
have fully
recovered from
the typhoon,
securing their three meals a day in
partnership with the University Food
Service, etc. The affected students
are in need of special consideration
in their academic life, so it would
be very beneficial if the University
Photo by Ian Capistrano
UPCWS EXTENDS...
look at our budgeting processes to see
whether some processes can be discovered (to enable us) to more effectively
meet disasters," she said.
Commit to long-term rebuilding
Claudio said the UP CWS is committed to the long-term effort of rebuilding UP Tacloban. UP could have
a long-term group for this purpose,
comprised of the constituent units, as
well as a response center. "This could
be a cluster of people who could look
at the continuing rehabilitation. For
AFTER THE STORM...
HOPE OF THE FUTURE...
can provide free
make-up lectures
for them
Q. What are
your insights,
experience, and
lessons from
Yolanda?
SR: From this
experience, we
learned that relief
goods and donations can only do
so much in the
short term. What
we need is for the
UP administration
and the national
government to provide Yolanda survivors with substantial
long-term solutions.
USCC: The typhoon has made us realize how
unprepared the country is when it
comes to calamities as strong as
Yolanda. The Philippines is lagging
behind in its disaster-preparedness
measures. The number of deaths the
super typhoon caused could have
been less if the country was fully
prepared when the typhoon struck.
With the advance in technology, it
could have been already predicted
that mere evacuation to nearby areas
was not enough. The Philippines
should invest in long-term disasterpreparedness measures especially
now that the route of typhoons is
slowly changing. However, the
Filipino people are stronger than the
storm surge. It is in times like this
that we see the Filipino people uniting to help our kababayan not just
through donations but by asserting
and demanding from the national
government what they need and
what they deserve. Sabi nga, ang
karapatan, hindi dapat pinapalimos.
Kung hindi ito binibigay, sama-samang assertion ang kailangan.
Q. What is the OSR’s current
agenda in line with disasters?
SR: With this experience, we
learned that the UP administration
can actually implement a lower
tuition rate system (from the STFAP
re-bracketting of the students). That
is why we continually call for the
exploration and later implementation of a lower flat rate tuition in
the University because it is actually
feasible.
USCC: UP has certain measures
on disaster preparedness like seminars and related activities. What it
lacks is post-disaster preparedness.
It's been more than two months after
the typhoon struck yet the rehabilitation plan for UP Tacloban and UP
Palo is so delayed. Demands of the
UP students and faculty affected by
the typhoon are still being lobbied
with the BoR through Tindog Network (Network of Families, Friends
and Supporters of the Survivors of
Typhoon Yolanda), but the Board
has not answered the demands
yet. The UP General Assembly of
Student Councils has also drafted
a resolution to be presented by the
student regent in the next BoR meeting.
Q. What are the current policies
and management issues on disasters that may be useful for UP and
other SUCs?
SR: Aside from consolidating the
efforts of the administration and other sectors of the UP community to
call for relief operations, we should
also come up with long-term solutions in order to assist those who
were affected by the typhoon (ex.
immediately exempt them from paying the high cost of tuition, provide
free lodging in the dorms, etc.)
USCC: This is an ongoing study
by the USC that is yet to be explored.
-------------------Email the author at [email protected].
But the neighborhood surrounding
UP Tacloban, sustained considerable
damage.
"The biggest damage really was to
the light structures: nipa huts and the
other shanties that were located near
the water in Barangay San Jose. Inside the city also, there were houses
na medyo light construction and
these were damaged too." The ground
floor, emergency room and other facilities of the nearby Eastern Visayas
Medical Center was also inundated,
but the Center was able to continue
providing medical services after the
initial onslaught.
The surrounding plaza and open areas at the Capitol were already being
used by the MMDA and other agencies as staging areas for relief work.
Palo
Silvestre, Tomeldan, Berse, Antonio and Mata then made their way to
Palo on their borrowed vehicle. And
from the get-go, Silvestre noticed
that they were dealing with a different kind of destruction.
The town proper of Palo, and the
UP School of Health Sciences, had
been spared the impact of the storm
surge, being on higher ground and
some distance from the coastline. The
extensive damage was wrought by
Yolanda's up to 315 km/h winds.
"Many of the roofs (in the town)
were blown off," Silvestre remarked.
The old Japanese-era main building of the School of Health Sciences
likewise had its roof ripped off. Bad
as that sounded, that was not even the
worst of it.
Unlike the Tacloban campus,
whose structures could be repaired
back to full functionality, some buildings of the School of Health Sciences
suffered a harsher fate. The main
building had two adjacent one-storey
structures. "The one on the back collapsed," said Silvestre. "And this was
a reinforced concrete hollow block
building… from the winds."
From the team's findings, it was
likely that the winds took the roof
—which was a steel roof—and as it
was torn from the building, the walls
came down with it. After climbing a
nearby hill, the team confirmed the
impression that the type of damage
for the entire town conformed to the
pattern. The roof of the Cathedral of
Palo was blown off in similar fashion, while many lighter structures
were swept away.
Forensic
Hearing Silvestre speak, it became
clear the act of assessment, even
from an architectural and planning
UP CWS, we launched the campaign
called 'Commit to Rebuild' on our
25th anniversary last December. We
want people to know that beyond
the 'heroic phase,' we need to be
steady and committed to rebuilding
the UP campuses in Palo, Leyte and
Tacloban, and see the rebuilding of
storm-ravaged areas, in general," she
said.
"It's really a good chance to make
things better, for what we're going to
build. There are so many things that
can be done," concluded Claudio.
perspective, differed very little from
the assessment of a crime scene. For
any competent investigator, part of
the job is the reconstruction of the
"whys" and the "hows" of a specific
case from the evidence in order to
move forward.
"It's different when you see the forensic evidence for yourself," he said.
"When we say forensic evidence...
it means to literally see the debris,
to see how the structures collapsed.
That sort of thing."
"A structural engineer or an architect, for instance like me, will look
at the structure. And if it was able
to withstand that level of wind and
storm surge without collapsing or
failing, wala namang columns na
nag-collapse, wala namang walls
na nag-collapse, like at least in UP
Tacloban—the initial assessment
would be that the structure is reasonably sound."
If, however, they saw cracks on
the columns or beams, or if the walls
themselves were blown down, that
would be a different story. The building would then be subjected to further tests to assess its integrity. These
would include various structural
tests and evaluations of the building,
doing checks on the structural steel
frames and assessing, among other
things, if there was a movement or
displacement of the columns, beams
and other structural elements.
If a building is compromised, there
are two recourses depending on the
severity of the damage. "Sometimes
you may see a large crack but if there
is no deflection, you can use various techniques like epoxy grouting
to repair the cracks and it will be
essentially good as new," he said. But
in cases that are beyond repair, the
only recourse is to declare the building unfit for habitation, and possibly
condemning it.
"Mayroong ganoon sa School of
Health Sciences. That one building
that collapsed... it’s gone."
Rebuilding
When they returned to Diliman, the
team began the process of helping both
campuses and the region back to their
feet. And from all indications, 2014
will be a busy year for all of them.
Because of the aggravated damage from both the winds and the
storm surge, Lagmay and his Project
NOAH team are already hard at work
making more detailed hazard maps
for the whole of Leyte. Silvestre and
company, on the other hand, were already ordered by President Pascual to
prepare the master plan for a campus
on a potentially safer site.
Unknown to many, the aforemencontinued on page 15
Photos from the UP Baguio Office of Public Affairs
UP Baguio’s Immediate
and Long-Term
Response to the
Aftermath of Typhoon
Yolanda
Victoria R. Costina
U
P Baguio joined the rest of the country (and the world) in helping Yolanda
victims in every way possible. Relief operations were immediately put in
place primarily to receive donations of food, clothes, blankets, children’s books
and toys, in addition to cash.
For at least three weeks after the typhoon donations poured in generously, courtesy of UP Baguio constituents, alumni, and other friends. Most of the donations
were repacked and sent via trucks to the UP Diliman center for relief operations,
while others were sent through Baguio community relief organizers who also made
trips to Tacloban and other places in the Visayas.
In addition, UP Baguio also took in two students from UP Visayas so they can
continue their studies: Baby June Cabacang and Gemmie Lyn Navarro, both in
the BA Social Sciences program. Cabacang is a sophomore majoring in political
science, and hails from Barangay Can-avid, Eastern Samar. Navarro, on the other
hand, is a 4th year student majoring in psychology. She is from Barangay Caloglog, Tanauan, Leyte.
UP Baguio is also promoting disaster risk reduction and mitigation, as well as
disaster preparedness and response. From January 13 to 15, UP Baguio hosted an
orientation workshop entitled “Sakunang Darating, Saklolo’y Tayo Rin,” UP Padayon DRRM Orientation Course for the University. The course oriented constituents of each autonomous university on a variety of topics including disaster risk
reduction and management principles, geohazard assessment of building structures,
emergency response, proactive management of the muster area for evacuation, safe
spaces, evacuation plans and drills, etc.
Among the speakers for this workshop were UP Padayon Coordinator Dr. Ferdinand Llanes, Prof. Dymphna Javier, Engr. Maricar Rabonza, Dr. Jesusa Catabui,
Dr. Leticia Tojos, Dr. Maria Leonora Francisco, Lynne Brasileño, Dr. April Llaneta, Dr. Carlos Primero Gundran, Rodolfo Suyat, Prof. Victor Obedicen, and Prof.
Rosalie Quilicol.
To better improve disaster preparedness in the long term, all barangay captains of
Baguio and Benguet will also gather in UP Baguio before April this year to develop
a common response to disasters in their areas. The gathering will be sponsored by
UP Baguio and the Knowledge and Training Resource Center for Climate Change
and Disaster Risk Reduction (KTRC). UP Baguio likewise continues to support the
campaign for the Balili River System Revitalization. It is a member of the Coalition.
UP Baguio is also continuing to implement its Green Campus Policy. This includes the preservation of the present tree cover on campus and the implementation
of a master suite development plan in development projects on campus.
Environmentalism is integrated in all curricular programs and proposals, including the propagation of plant and animal species in natural science classes. For
campus operations, these are some of the directives: the use of low energy and high
efficacy lighting, retrofitting of electrical layout, systematization of rain harvesting,
reduction of paper consumption through the digitization of institutional archives,
strict implementation of the smoke/alcohol/drug-free campus policy, and solid
waste segregation and reduction.
-------------------Professor Costina is director of UP Baguio’s Office of Public Affairs. Email her
at [email protected].
Top photo: Members of the UP Baguio community participate in a DRRM
Orientation Course. Photo 2nd from top: Book donations from UP Baguio
constituents for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda. Photo on bottom left: UP
Baguio's two adopted UPV students, Baby June Cabacang (left) and Gemmie
Lyn Navarro (right). Photo on bottom right: Visitors from the UN World Food
Programme (UN-WFP) and US Agency for International Development (USAID)
visit the KTRC at the Cordillera Center. From the UN-WFP: Onuora Daniels,
Disaster Preparedness and Response Programme Director; and Joseph Alviar,
Field Monitor for Benguet. From USAID: Ben Hemingway, Regional Advisor for
East Asia and the Pacific, USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/
OFDA); and George Siasoco, Disaster Operations Specialist, Washington D.C.
Metro Area, USAID/OFDA.
Photos from the UP Baguio Office of Public Affairs
UPOU Disaster Risk Management
MOOC in the Pipeline
Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo
T
he UP Open University
(UPOU) has been planning
for the development of a massive
open online course (MOOC) on
disaster risk management even before Typhoon Yolanda devastated
central Philippines.
According to Prof. Primo
Garcia, UPOU Information Office
director, the "Yolanda experience"
has reiterated the need for a more
concerted and proactive approach
to natural disaster management.
This is why the planned MOOC
will be offered for free so that
it can equip more individuals
and institutions in meeting and
overcoming challenges in disaster
management.
Apart from this, UPOU's response to the typhoon's aftermath
started last 13 November 2013,
when the Faculty of Management and Development Studies
launched a donation drive. The
donations in kind were handed to
the UP System for distribution to
those affected in Tacloban, Leyte.
Photo from the UPOU Information Office
The UPOU launches a donation drive for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda.
community. Linking up with the UP
System, UPOUFI, and WeDpro, Inc.
helped facilitate the transmission and
distribution of relief goods on the
ground. As a borderless campus, it was
able to tap the support of its students
ence has shown that university extension programs need not be complicated, top-heavy initiatives. Encouraging
the public to help in the university's
relief efforts must be complemented by
engaging members of its own university community to participate
in these activities.
"Public service is basically
a culture," he said. "It cannot be sustained unless the
university as a whole feels
it has a stake in it. [Public
service] can only be achieved
if everyone in the university
can find a role in its implementation."
Finally, Garcia emphasized
how, in this day and age, social media plays an important
role in organizing develop-
The UPOU General Assembly
holding another donation drive in
December.
On 13 December 2013, another
donation drive was undertaken
during the UPOU General Assembly. This time, employees gave
school supplies, toys, and other
items for the affected children in
the area. These were sent to target
communities through WeDpro,
Inc., a non-profit collective in
the Philippines that works in the
area of human rights through
gender responsive development
programs, and of which a UPOU
faculty is a board member.
In addition, Garcia told the UP
Forum on 13 January that UPOU,
in cooperation with UPOU Foundation, Inc. (UPOUFI), was able
to raise almost P70,000 in cash
donations from its constituents.
The funds will be used to help
some families in their recovery
and rehabilitation from the calamity.
UPOU credits the success of
their relief efforts to institutional
partnerships and to its worldwide
from all over the country and the
world. In fact, a substantial amount of
donations came from students based
abroad. UPOU relied more on social
media, such as Facebook and Twitter,
to inform its constituents about the
relief efforts.
Garcia noted that the UPOU experi-
ment initiatives. "UPOU is in a good
position not only to adopt these media
[in seeking] support for public service
efforts but also to do empirical work
on social media-driven networks for
development."
---------Email the author at [email protected].
Salient Points of Republic Act 10121 or the Philipp
and Risk Reduction Management Act of 2010
Sec. 5 National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Council.
XXX
The National Council shall be headed by the Secretary
of the Department of National Defense (DND) as Chairperson with the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local
Government (DILG) as Vice Chairperson for Disaster Preparedness,
the Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD) as Vice Chairperson for Disaster Response, the Secretary of
the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) as Vice Chairperson for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, and the Director-General
of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) as Vice
Chairperson for Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery.
XXX
G
SEC. 10. Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
Organization at the Regional Level.
The current Regional Disaster Coordinating Councils
shall henceforth be known as the Regional Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Councils (RDRRMCs) which
shall coordinate, integrate, supervise, and evaluate the activities of the
LDRRMCs. The RDRRMC shall be responsible in ensuring disaster
sensitive regional development plans, and in case of emergencies shall
convene the different regional line agencies and concerned institutions
and authorities.
The RDRRMCs shall establish an operating facility to be known as the
Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center
(RDRRMOC) whenever necessary.
The civil defense officers of the OCD who are or may be designated
as Regional Directors of the OCD shall serve as chairpersons of the
RDRRMCs. Its Vice Chairpersons shall be the Regional Directors of the
DSWD, the DILG, the DOST, and the NEDA. In the case of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the Regional Governor shall
be the RDRRMC Chairperson. The existing regional offices of the OCD
shall serve as secretariat of the RDRRMCs. The RDRRMCs shall be
composed of the executives of regional offices and field stations at the
regional level of the government agencies.
G
SEC. 11. Organization at the Local Government Level.
The existing Provincial, City, and Municipal Disaster
Coordinating Councils shall henceforth be known as the
Provincial, City, and Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management Councils. The Barangay Disaster Coordinating Councils shall cease to exist and its powers and functions shall
henceforth be assumed by the existing Barangay Development Councils
(BDCs) which shall serve as the LDRRMCs in every barangay.
(a) Composition: The LDRRMC shall be composed of, but not limited
to, the following: (1) The Local Chief Executives, Chairperson;
(2) The Local Planning and Development Officer, member; (3)
The Head of the LDRRMO, member; (4) The Head of the Local
Social Welfare and Development Office, member; (5) The Head
of the Local Health Office, member; (6) The Head of the Local
Agriculture Office, member; (7) The Head of the Gender and
Development Office, member; (8) The Head of the Local Engineering Office, member; (9) The Head of the Local Veterinary Office,
member; (10) The Head of the Local Budget Office, member;
(11) The Division Head/Superintendent of Schools of the DepED,
member; (12) The highest-ranking officer of the Armed Forces
of the Philippines (AFP) assigned in the area, member; (13) The
Provincial Director/City/Municipal Chief of the Philippine National
Police (PNP), member; (14) The Provincial Director/City/ Municipal
Fire Marshall of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), member; (15)
The President of the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC),
member; (16) The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), member; (17) Four (4) accredited CSOs, members; and (18) One (1)
private sector representative, member.
(b) The LDRRMCs shall have the following functions: (1) Approve,
monitor and evaluate the implementation of the LDRRMPs and
regularly review and test the plan consistent with other national
and local planning programs; (2) Ensure the integration of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into local development plans, programs and budgets as a strategy in sustainable
development and poverty reduction; (3) Recommend the implementation of forced or preemptive evacuation of local residents, if
necessary; and (4) Convene the local council once every three (3)
months or as necessary.
G
SEC. 6. Powers and Functions of the NDRRMC.
The National Council, being empowered with
policy-making, coordination, integration, supervision,
monitoring and evaluation functions, shall have the
following responsibilities:
(a) Develop a NDRRMF which shall provide for a comprehensive, all-hazards, multi-sectoral, inter-agency and community-based approach to disaster risk reduction and management. The Framework shall serve as the principal guide to
disaster risk reduction and management efforts in the country and shall be reviewed on a five(5)-year interval, or as
may be deemed necessary, in order to ensure its relevance
to the times;
(b) Ensure that the NDRRMP is consistent with the NDRRMF;
(c) Advise the President on the status of (disaster preparedness, prevention, mitigation, response and rehabilitation
operations being undertaken by the government, CSOs,
private sector, and volunteers; recommend to the President
the declaration of a state of calamity in areas extensively
damaged; and submit proposals to restore normalcy in the
affected areas, to include calamity fund allocation;
(d) Ensure a multi-stakeholder participation in the development, updating, and sharing of a Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management Information System and
Geographic Information System-based national risk map as
policy, planning and decision-making tools;
(e) Establish a national early warning and emergency alert
system to provide accurate and timely advice to national or
local emergency response organizations and to the general
public through diverse mass media to include digital and
analog broadcast, cable, satellite television and radio, wireless communications, and landline communications;
(f) Develop appropriate risk transfer mechanisms that shall
guarantee social and economic protection and increase resiliency in the face of disaster;
(g) Monitor the development and enforcement by agencies
and organizations of the various laws, guidelines, codes or
technical standards required by this Act;
XXX
G
SEC. 12. Local Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Office (LDRRMO).
(a) There shall be established an LDRRMO in every
province, city and municipality, and a Barangay
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Committee (BDRRMC) in every barangay which shall be responsible for setting the direction, development, implementation and
coordination of disaster risk management programs within their
territorial jurisdiction.
(b) The LDRRMO shall be under the office of the governor, city
or municipal mayor, and the punong barangay in case of the
BDRRMC. The LDRRMOs shall be initially organized and
composed of a DRRMO to be assisted by three (3) staff responsible for: (1) administration and training; (2) research and
planning; and (3) operations and warning. The LDRRMOs and
the BDRRMCs shall organize, train and directly supervise the
local emergency response teams and the ACDVs.
XXX
G
SEC. 16. Declaration of State of Calamity.
The National Council shall recommend to the President of the Philippines the declaration of a cluster of
barangays, municipalities, cities, provinces, and regions
under a state of calamity, and the lifting thereof, based
on the criteria set by the National Council. The President's declaration may warrant international humanitarian assistance as deemed
necessary.
The declaration and lifting of the state of calamity may also be
issued by the local sanggunian, upon the recommendation of the
LDRRMC, based on the results of the damage assessment and
needs anaysis.
G
pine Disaster
G
SEC. 17. Remedial
Measures.
The declaration of a
state of calamity shall
make mandatory the
immediate
undertaking of the following
remedial measures by the memberagencies concerned as defined in
this Act:
(a) Imposition of price ceiling on
basic necessities and prime
commodities by the President
upon the recommendation of
the implementing agency as
provided for under Republic Act No. 7581, otherwise
known as the "Price Act", or
the National Price Coordinating Council;
(b) Monitoring, prevention and
control by the Local Price Coordination Council of overpricing/profiteering and hoarding
of prime commodities, medicines and petroleum products;
(c) Programming/reprogramming of funds for the repair
and safety upgrading of public
infrastructures and facilities;
and
(d) Granting of no-interest loans
by government financing or
lending institutions to the most
affected section of the population through their cooperatives
or people's organizations.
SEC. 18. Mechanism
for International
Humanitarian
Assistance.
(a) The importation
and donation of food, clothing, medicine and equipment
for relief and recovery and
other disaster management
and recovery-related supplies
is hereby authorized in accordance with Section 105 of the
Tariff and Customs Code of
the Philippines, as amended,
and the prevailing provisions of
the General Appropriations Act
covering national internal revenue taxes and import duties
of national and local government agencies; and
(b) Importations and donations
under this section shall be considered as importation by andlor donation to the NDRRMC,
subject to the approval of the
Office of the President.
G
AFTER THE STORM...
tioned 113-ha. site in Barangay Sta. Elena lies about 24-25 kilometers
north of the city of Tacloban, and is owned by UP. Silvestre said that
its location at the narrow end between Tacloban and Samar, and its
location on higher terrain away from the coastline could make it less
susceptible to a future storm surge. To be on the safe side, however,
Dr. Lagmay's team will undertake a more detailed hazard mapping of
the site prior to detailed planning.
If things pan out, it could possibly be the new home not only of UP
Tacloban, but also the School of Health Sciences.
Silvestre noted that President Pascual had already made an offer of
assistance to Mayor Alfred Romualdez of Tacloban not only in terms
of planning, but also to make the future campus a nucleus of development. This phenomenon may effectively move part of the city out of
its currently vulnerable location.
"There is a good possibility that in the same way when UP moved
from Padre Faura to Diliman, and much of Quezon City sort of grew
around Diliman, that something like that could also happen there."
"We still keep the campus in the city, kasi atin na iyon, UP owns
the land and the facilities," he said. "You could still operate an urban
campus like UP Manila. But at least we know that in case of another
occurrence, there is a refuge that we can evacuate our students and
faculty to."
That, for Silvestre, is the long-term goal.
The short-term, of course, involves rehabilitation. At the time
of this writing, Silvestre and the rest of the team are scheduled to
meet with Deans Salvador Isidro Destura and Anita G. Cular of
the SHS and UP Tacloban, respectively. Both played a major role
in assisting the team's first expedition. And their inputs will provide the bedrock upon which the team will construct the future of
both schools.
"What we’ll do is to rehabilitate UP Tacloban, to ensure that
over the next 3-5 years while we’re developing the new site, it
continues operation, Silvestre said. "And to do whatever we
can do to, should (the disaster) occur again and it probably will,
mitigate further damage."
While the team awaits a meeting with the two deans and UPV
Chancellor Rommel Espinosa, the undergraduate students of both
Silvestre and Tomeldan are already doing initial work on the new
campus. "By the end of the semester we’ll probably have some
output in relation to that." Meeting both deans is crucial, Silvestre said however, to determine the long-term vision of both and
complete the master plan along those lines.
Parallel to this, Silvestre and the rest of the team are also looking
forward to uniting with the rest of the university in training local
government units to effectively manage future disasters. Through
Vice President De Vera's office, they received a request to assist the
municipality of Barugo in Leyte.
"We’re thinking of using this as a case study—developing a framework of assistance that UP can offer including primarily training. So
we can assist our local government units to plan for disasters."
He described it as a multidisciplinary effort—including not just
architects and engineers, but experts from the School of Urban and
Regional Planning, the National Institute of Geological Sciences via
Project NOAH, the NCPAG and other units providing organizational
and psychosocial support.
"That will probably be something that will keep us busy initially
for the next year, possibly longer as the rehab and development work
begins."
The Takeaway
Despite these developments, one final issue remained on the table.
This, perhaps, was the most important of all. Given the extent of the
devastation in the Visayas and the increasingly violent spate of natural disasters this past year, a disturbing question still persists for both
the university and the country.
What if it happens again?
"I had a very interesting discussion with Mahar and the rest of the
group, while we were having our dinner of canned goods," Silvestre
said. "We were already saying ‘what if a catastrophe like this or a
magnitude 7+ earthquake like the one that hit Bohol… what would
happen if it hits Manila, and what would happen to UP Diliman?"
The initially light-hearted discussion had taken a turn for the unsettling. The gravity of the matter was punctuated by the eerie darkness
of the Tacloban campus.
Silvestre said that at least for UP,
there is a need to reassess all of
its campuses and upgrade them to
provide for the safety of its faculty,
students and staff. "We also have
to make an assumption that the UP
Campus will be a haven and a refuge
also of the other victims of the calamity." He foresees that UP's buildings and their classrooms will likely
be converted into relief centers.
And he believes that the Leyte
experience provides clues as to how
this can be managed.
"Perhaps the health facilities in
all our campuses should be geared
towards at least offering part of the
required emergency health services
should something like this occur," he
said. Though UP does have welltrained and dedicated professionals to
address such disasters, keeping them
safe and in a position to assist is vital
for an effective response.
"The need for energy has to be
addressed," he continues. "You can’t
rely on the grid, so I think we need
to consider alternative sources of energy." Despite having a generator set,
he said that it took about two weeks
before a relatively stable supply of
fuel could be brought to Tacloban
because many of the service stations
were inundated.
"By the time they were partially
restored, they were selling diesel for
200-300 pesos a liter. So even if you
have the genset, if you don’t have the
diesel to run it you still won’t have
electricity."
Clean, potable water is another
thing UP should be able to supply.
Silvestre said there is a pressing
need to address the supply of potable
water, at the very least a means to
gather and recycle rainwater as well
as more advanced water management
systems.
"In those days people in Tacloban
were even taking a bath in the rain.
Collecting rainwater, filtering it
through whatever they had, like
clothes and boiling it to purify it. So
we’ve got to be able to develop those
systems."
Finally, a united effort involving
the entire UP community—scientists,
engineers, social scientists and
artists—can work in tandem with
agencies such as the Climate Change
Commission on vital initiatives. This
is a more proactive approach in addressing a scenario that has left so
many powerless. UP has already entered into an MOU with the Climate
Change Commission precisely for
this effort.
"We’re already starting it," Silvestre said. "But we’ve got to provide
the kind of services and academic
output needed to help put our country
in a position to be safe when something like this happens again.
"And it will happen again."
The UP FORUM
Dr. Clarita R. Carlos
UP College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
Dr. Edna A. Co
UP National College of
Public Administration
and Governance
Dr. Emil Q. Javier
UP President (1993-1999)
BOARD OF ADVISERS
Dr. Orlando S. Mercado
UP National College of
Public Administration
and Governance
Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan
UP College of Medicine
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Senate of the Philippines
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UP College of Mass
Communication
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UP College of Mass
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THE UP FORUM
16
UP FORUM
15 No. 1 January-February 2014
University
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Photo by Athena de Paz
TYPHOON-TOUGHENED UPM-SHS
BUILDING...
Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc
for bringing primary health care to
thousands of poor people.
But barely three months after being ravaged by Typhoon Yolanda last
November 8, the UP Manila School
of Health Sciences in Palo, Leyte is
set to resume classes, according to UP
Manila Chancellor Manuel Agulto.
The campus can thus continue its
unique role in the country of educating
students, funded by their own communities in the hinterlands, as health
professionals in the service of the
communities that sponsored them. Students of SHS can begin studying and
practicing as midwives and can even
end up as doctors of medicine through
SHS's ladderized education system.
The resumption of school operations
comes not only with a significant realization of the need to build better. But
also with a heightened appreciation
of the need for SHS, which had been
undergoing expansion in recent years,
to serve more communities.
SHS buildings will have to do better
than the old one built in the 1970s at
Palo, Leyte, which suffered extensive
structural damage. Portions of the
campus need to be either relocated or
constructed anew.
Although there were no reported casualties except for one alumnus of the
school, classes had to be suspended.
The structural damage meant severe
damage to equipment and records.
Walls and ceilings cracked open by
wind and water also brought the possibility of exposure to asbestos, as the
two-story building built in the 1970s
might have had this toxic material. UP
is now coordinating efforts to ascertain
this possibility and planning for proper
clean up of the now-banned substance,
according to Chancellor Agulto.
In the meantime, the staff has
been reporting on a half-day basis
to retrieve records and to ensure the
smooth resumption of
school operations.
Help is coming
from donors such as
Tzu Chi and Sagip Kapamilya. In
coordination with UP
Photos by Athena de Paz
Visayas, temporary classroom facilities are being set up. UPM and UPV
are also coordinating the construction
of new facilities in a six-hectare site in
Sta. Elena, located further upland.
"The development of a six-hectare
property of UP at Sta. Elena for the
School of Health Sciences was included in our budget proposal last year
supposedly for 2014, as even then, we
were cognizant of the need for expanding this unique ladderized Health
Sciences education," Agulto told the
UP FORUM.
The expansion of the SHS, which
also has campuses in Baler and
Koronadal, is part of the UP Manila
Strategic Plan, along with national
networking and being a contributor to
the Philippine Development Plan.
Yolanda has compelled the UP
Manila administration to prioritize
better infrastructure. "In disaster-prone
areas like Tacloban, 'super-typhoon'and earthquake-proof buildings are a
must," Agulto said.
In this light, UPM needs the UP System to help source expertise in planning the new campus in Sta. Elena. It
would also appreciate funds necessary
to jumpstart site development and
construction.
"We need the UP System to help us
build the support system for sustaining
the academic and unique communityoriented health sciences education offered as a national and global model,"
Agulto said, referring to the exemplary
program of SHS to
build health manpower in remote
areas. It is UP's
own brainchild,
whose success has
led to the building of two more
SHS campuses in
Baler, Aurora and
Koronadal, South
Cotabato.
This strategy has
also been used by
several community-based health
training programs
worldwide.
-------------------Email the author at
[email protected].

Rising from the Rubble - University of the Philippines

Transcription

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