Military reservist units and the local government units will
now have to play a major rule in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief
operations (HADR), AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Ricardo Visaya said Saturday.
"With its sights now on full force operations against
terrorism and illegal drugs, the AFP will have to rely more on its reserve
force for humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations," he
added.
He made this statement during the AFP Reserve Command
(AFPRESCOM) Joint Capability Demonstration held in Diego Silang, Taguig on
Saturday in line the observation of National Disasters Preparedness Month.
And the growing threats of disasters and calamities, there
is a strong need for for reservists and LGUs to step up.
“Our reserve force will play a greater role in the years to
come and it is good to know that the AFP Reserve Command recognizes this and
has sought steps to prepare itself for joint HADR operations,” Visaya said.
During Saturday's event, AFP reserve units, together with
partner agencies, simulated several scenarios caused by a 7.2-magnitutde
earthquake generated by the West Valley Fault.
“The conduct was meant to measure preparedness, readiness,
and interoperability of Reserve units side by side with our partner agencies,”
AFPRESCOM said Brig. Gen. Leoncio A. Cirunay said.
“This way, we can determine how far we’ve come in terms of
capability and what others we need to improve on in saving lives and mitigating
the effects of disasters in the shortest timeframe,” he added.
Scenarios included high casualty multiple vehicle collision,
explosion, collapsed building rescue, high angle rescue, and airlift evacuation
that tested the capabilities of participating responders from crowd control to
high altitude urban maneuvers.
Responders were from the AFP Joint Task Force-National
Capital Region, Office of Civil Defense, Department of Interior and Local
Government, Taguig City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council,
Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, University of Perpetual
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