A humanitarian and emergency response team has been formed
for Tawi-Tawi under the supervision of Humanitarian Emergency Action and
Response Team of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM-HEART) to
respond to disasters and emergency situation in the island province, officials
said today.
About 70recruits from the province have been trained by
ARMM-HEART and the Army's 6th Infantry Division on Search and Rescue (SAR)
operations, especially on emergency and disaster preparedness, said Lawyer
Laisa Alamia, ARMM executive secretary and ARMM-HEART head.
Alamia said the recruits, composed of ethnic Samah and
Tausug volunteers were also trained on peace-building and basic auxiliary
police techniques they can use to help maintain law and order during emergency
situations.
HEART is an emergency and disaster action group established
in 2013 by ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman. It has been actively involved in all major
disaster response in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu
and Tawi-Tawi, the provinces that composed the ARMM.
According to Ramil Masukat, ARMM’s regional disaster action
officer, about 27 volunteers from Lanao del Sur, 72 from Maguindanao, 54 from
Sulu and 92 from Basilan, were earlier trained on rescue and emergency response
by the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao.
“They will be sent home and be ready for humanitarian
response operations with the support of the local government units in their
respective municipalities,” Masukat said.
Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, 6th ID chief, said the 68
recruits from Tawi-Tawi were given extensive training on water search and
rescue, basic identification and detection of improvised explosive devices and
crowd protection from IED blasts.
He said the recruits from Tawi-Tawi were also provided
inputs by experts, led by Col. Bernie Langub, on religious and culture
sensitivity.
“We are glad that we now have an ARMM government helping the
police and the military decentralize emergency and disaster response capability
to the barangays. This is a capacity-building initiative that, at the same
time, also empowers the people in the barangays,” Pangilinan said.
The HEART had served in the past two years more than a
million conflict and calamity-stricken folks in different parts of the
autonomous region, which covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland
Mindanao , and the island provinces of Basilan,
Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
Alamia said ARMM-HEART recognizes no boundaries in serving
the people in crisis situation, including Zamboanga City
ARMM-HEART can be likened to Davao City
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=873691
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