Attended by eleven (11) communities and PCDR’s partners all over Western Visayas – Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental, it became a venue for all Disaster Preparedness Committees/Organizations (DPCs/DPOs) and BLGUs to get to know one another and, through a workshop, share their experiences, challenges, learnings, and best practices in implementing Community-Based Disaster Management in their respective communities.

During the two-day activity, PCDR was able to give an input on Mental Health in Disasters (An Introduction), wherein basic concepts on Disasters, Mental Health, Psychological First Aid, and others were discussed. Moreover, the importance of addressing people’s basic needs before and after disasters like food, water, housing, and shelter was also highlighted for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support be effective and holistic.

Photos taken during Day 1 of Bayluhanay.

Under said projects supported by JIA and ADH, PCDR was able to train 18 Trainers from its networks and partners on Community-Based Disaster Management. Said trained instructors assisted PCDR in facilitating the CBDM Training in 11 communities all around the region where a total of 270 community and BLGU members were trained. Moreover, under said projects, PCDR was able to form 11 additional DPCs/DPOs and 3 Core Groups on Disaster Preparedness.

Furthermore, PCDR was also able to gather its local network within the region and other regions in the Visayas where Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans both at the local level and Visayas-Wide were developed.

Lastly, the project also enabled PCDR to advance its advocacies on Community Empowerment and Localization by providing small grants to communities to implement their Survivor and Community-Led Response Projects, Climate Change Awareness and Environmental Protection, Mental Health, and many more.

This might be a challenging year for development and humanitarian workers, and communities experiencing fire incidents, earthquakes, typhoons, floods, and other disasters both natural and human-induced, but through our collective efforts, we will face #2024 more prepared, capacitated, and strengthened.//