THE Divit Girls Rural Training Centre (DGRTC), owned and operated by the Catholic Church at Visale in West Guadalcanal, has delighted with a one-week Disaster Preparedness and Evacuation Centre Management (DPECM) training facilitated by the Church Agencies Network Disaster Operations (CANDO) consortium at their school.
The DPECM training started on Monday, July 1, 2024, and successfully ended on Friday, July 5, 2024, at the DGRTC Conference Centre. The training was coordinated and facilitated by Duran Taupongi, Coordinator of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency’s (ADRA) Solomon Islands Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), and supported by CANDO volunteer trainers from different churches.
The aim of the disaster readiness training was to capacitate the Community Disaster Risks Committee to lead inclusive preparedness and disaster response in their own community in terms of risk reduction activities and managing their evacuation center whenever a disaster occurs.
The one-week training was an ongoing project supported by the French Government through Anglican Aid and channeled through and implemented by the CANDO Partners, led by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in the in the Solomon Islands. The training was supported and funded through the Community Disability Centre (CDC) project.
Seven male and seven female representatives from the surrounding community at Visale, DGRTC, Visale Secondary and Primary School, nurse representatives, and a few private employers attended the training.
CANDO, the Church Agencies Network for Disaster Operations (CAN DO), was formed in 2015 to better coordinate and strengthen global humanitarian, disaster risk reduction and management (DRR/DRM), and resilience-building work.
Speaking on behalf of the participants, the Principal of DGRTC, Sr. Daniella Tovatada, who was the newly elected Secretary of the newly formed Visale Disaster Committee (VDC), acknowledged CANDO partners through ADRA for facilitating the DPECM training.
“This training was very important for us with ADRA, and the support of CANDO partners facilitated this training for us here at the DGRTC.
“To be honest, this training was new to us, and this week (last week), we learned more about disaster preparedness. The content of the training helped us understand what we should do during a disaster.”
She continued to say that they also learned about risk management and how to prepare themselves before disasters happen.
“During this training, we also learned about how to map our places so we can deal with people when a disaster occurs. For example, understanding warning times and identifying safe places to move the community to when a disaster occurs.
‘’Terms and words related to disaster management were also new to us, which really helped us understand how to use these terms correctly during a disaster within our community. I would like to thank ADRA and CANDO partners for organizing this important training. Although it did not cover our entire community, it will be very helpful for us, and we will pass on what we learned to our community members,” Sr. Tovatada concluded.
Trainer Facilitator Duran Taupongi, Project Coordinator for the ADRA DRR Project, said the workshop was important for participants to get information about disasters and prepare them for disaster situations.
“This training was very important because it covers different aspects often experienced in a disaster situation, such as introduction to disaster, child protection, gender, safeguarding, evacuation center management, psychosocial first aid, rapid needs assessment, relief distribution, simulation exercises, formulation of their committee, and development of their disaster response plan.
“By sharing and learning these components, it can help a community be resilient and have basic knowledge on what to do before, during, and after a disaster situation,” Mr. Taupongi added.
After the training concluded, they formulated a disaster committee, named the committee the Visale Disaster Committee, and the Principal of DGRTC, Sr. Daniella Tovatada, was elected as a new secretary.
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is the official humanitarian agency of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. ADRA is a humanitarian agency operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for the purpose of providing individual and community development and disaster relief. It was founded in 1956, and it is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.
Source: ADRA Solomon Islands