THE UNIVERSITY-WIDE Red Cross Youth Council (RCY) sponsored the Disaster Preparedness Symposium last Jan. 31 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex.
The symposium was conducted in cooperation with the National Disaster Coordinating Council, the highest civil defense unit in the country under the chairmanship of the Secretary of the Department of National Defense.
According to Nelia Tabliago, Civil Defense Officer-National Capital Region, the Philippines is the most disaster-prone country in the world from 1900 to 1990.
She said some of the worst disasters in the Philippines include the Ozone Disco fire in March 1996, the second worst disco fire in the world; the Northern Luzon earthquake in July 1990; the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, the flashfloods in Ormoc, Leyte in Nov. 1991, the El Niño drought in 1998, the Cherry Hills landslide in Aug. 1999, and the Air Philippines Flight air disaster in April 2000, which left all of its 120 passengers dead.
“It is best to prepare, since we cannot prevent disasters from happening, we are trying to save not only personal properties, but the lives of each and every person,” Tabliago said. Karen M. Peña
