THE OFFICE of the Civil Defense (OCD) Davao wants to establish incident management teams (IMTs) in every school, particularly those most susceptible and highly exposed to disasters.
“The goal is that every school should have an incident management team,” OCD XI regional director Ednar Dayanghirang said during Kapehan sa Davao on Monday.
Dayanghirang said the capacity training for officials is ongoing, which will lead to the creation of IMTs. He recognized that the schools already have an existing focal person for disaster, but he said there is a need for a team.
“We wanted that not only should the focal person know, but there should be a team composed of teachers and even non-teaching staff, and even the parents, that is the ultimate goal,” Dayanghirang said.
He added it might take a year before every school can install an IMT, as every member will have to be trained, especially in disaster response.
Despite the ongoing efforts of the OCD to conduct earthquake drills, Dayanghirang said the IMT will facilitate the evacuation and guide the students to identified safer zones.
“The IMT will manage using the incident command system, so I will not be satisfied only with the drill; it has to be organized within the schools,” he added.
Following the incident command system training within the DepEd division offices, it will be cascaded to all district offices, he said.
“Not only the DepEd schools that will be required, but OCD will also tap the higher educational institutions,” he added.
To note, on March 25, 2024, OCD XI selected the Rizal Memorial Colleges as the pilot site to implement the 1st quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill. Dayanghirang said they are eyeing to operationalize IMTs in priority schools before the year ends.
