TACLOBAN CITY -- The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) and residents of storm surge-prone Costa Brava community in this city learned how to use the solar-powered kit meant for lighting and powering emergency communications and medical equipment.
The use of portable kit, dubbed as TekPak, is the highlight of evacuation drill culminating the observance of National Disaster Resilience Month on Saturday, in a community near the city’s airport that suffered the brunt of super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.
TekPak is one of the 40 innovations supported under the Tuklas Innovation Labs, a program of Plan Philippines in disaster-hit areas. The initiative aims to encourage ideas to meet the needs of vulnerable groups.
They are part of the five innovations from Eastern Visayas picked to receive PHP1 million in seed capital, training, and mentorship to test their disaster preparedness innovations from March to November 2018.
“Just like food and water, access to energy is also important in times of disaster. It plays important role in humanitarian response and development both in communication and medical situations,” said Jayson Mendiola, RE-Serve Humanitarian Corps member.
RE-Serve Humanitarian Corps is a volunteer group composed of respondents from various local government units, humanitarian organizations, community groups and students. The group helped the community by training them on how to use the TekPak.
“Electricity is one of the neglected aspects in disaster preparedness. We in RE-Serve advocates the use of alternative energy in times of disaster once the regular source of electricity backs down,” Mendiola said.
“The technology is already here and we can use it by harnessing energy from the sun through solar panels for us to have electricity to charge our mobile phones and other means of communication devices. This is vital to relay information to the villages from the town center.”
Mendiola added that the ICSC is developing a handier TekPak comparable to the size of a first-aid kit box. The solar panel is foldable and easy to carry.
The earthquake drill coincided with the power-outage in Tacloban that lasted for 14 hours. Participants use TekPak to charge their gadgets like the two-way radio and mobile phones. It was also used to power nebulizers.
Village chief Emelita Montalban said they were blessed to be selected as the site of the drill and to receive one unit of TekPak from the humanitarian organization.
“Having this TekPak will really help our village by ensuring that our places is lighted and communication continues because we have source of electricity to power our communication devices even there is no power from regular energy source,” Montalban said.
The entire Costa Brava community is classified by the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office as a danger zone due to its location, which is in the middle of Cancabato Bay and San Pedro Bay.
More than 900 families in the village are still living in the community since housing construction in resettlement areas has yet to be finished. (PNA)
