AFP, US Armed Forces provides health, disaster response training to Capiz residents

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 13): AFP, US Armed Forces provides health, disaster response training to Capiz residents

With the annual "Balikatan" exercises to start in a week's time, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the US Armed Forces over the weekend provided a series of trainings on health and disaster response to residents, health and social workers of Tapaz town, Capiz province.

Sixty-one municipal health, social workers and residents participated in the two-day activity.

The participants are from Barangays San Nicolas and Taft, Tapaz town.

Participating also were members of the Joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response Task Force Panay and Joint Civil-Military Operation Task Force and their American counterparts.

Major Ray Tiongson, 3rd Infantry Division spokesperson, said the activities are part of the pre-"Balikatan" exercises.

He added that Master Sgts. Rodney Chiles and Richard Giardine of the US Army conducted series of lectures on various topics such as community health nursing; common diseases during disaster; and healthy lifestyle.

The aim of the seminar is to identify potential and existing community health problems and support community participation in the process of preserving and improving the health of community.

Case studies on disaster management were also taken up including: preparedness for rescue, evacuation, caring for victims, personnel training, communications and stockpiling and maintenance of supplies and equipment; response actions to be taken to save lives and prevent further damage; recovery actions that must be taken to return to a normal situation after disaster; and mitigation activities to reduce or eliminate risks to persons or properties or consequences of an incident.

Aside from the recently-concluded activity, a military-to-civilian basic first responders training will be conducted at Babe’s Garden in Barangay Taft, Tapaz, Capiz on April 13 to 15.

Eighty military and civilian disaster responders are expected to participate.

Tiongson said the training aims to enhance disaster rescue, relief, recovery and rehabilitation efforts capabilities of the military and its counterparts in the civilian sector.

At the 3rd Infantry Division Training School in Camp Peralta, Jamindan, Capiz, a Civil-Military Operations (CMO) exchange seminar will be conducted on April 13 to 14, 2015.

The exchange seminar is a partnership training between the AFP CMO personnel and their counterparts from the US Armed Forces Civil Affairs team which will touch on the best practices of the Bayanihan Team Activities (BTA) for the AFP and the Civil Affairs Doctrine for the US Armed Forces.

A series of structural assessment for seaports and airports in the provinces of Capiz, Aklan, and Iloilo will also be conducted.

Meantime, personnel of the AFP and US Engineering units continue to work shoulder-to-shoulder in constructing two classrooms for the Don Joaquin Arthuz Memorial School in Tapaz, Capiz.

The school building is expected to be finished on the last week of April.

The effort is part of the humanitarian civic assistance portion of Balikatan Exercise 2015 in Panay.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=752373