CAMARINES SUR is known for its natural tourist attractions and yet its topography and landscape are also prone to typhoons, flashfloods and other calamities.

        Recently, the University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) based in Iriga City has organized a Campus Emergency Response Team (CERT) that will be composed of campus member organizations and volunteer students from different courses or colleges under the leadership Joseph Dela Cerna Florendo, UNEP- CERT project development manager, and Donald Narra, head of UNEP-CERT.

        UNEP CERT will serve as a mechanism for a unified response that will pool all available Emergency Medical Services (EMS) from the volunteers, ambulance services, ALS units and communication centers. Member-organizations are expected to provide primary and back up resources to one another in case of emergencies.

        “There is a need for a well coordinated, well-defined response to major emergencies and catastrophic disasters -- and the University of Northeastern Philippines through its Emergency Operations and Response Plan on Emergency and Disaster -- has clearly laid down its plan to immediately respond to this necessity,” Florendo said in an interview.

        The UNEP- Campus Emergency Response Task Force will be equipped with life support ambulances, each manned by at least two EMT paramedics and a special operations vehicle. The resource pool, on the other hand, will have basic life support and advanced life support transport ambulances, each with First-Aid rescuers and a special operations vehicle that has its own lighting facility and communications equipment.

        A task force will also be available for deployment within Iriga City through the activation of the Mutual Aid Agreement between the city government of Iriga and UNEP. It will adopt the approach and strategies being employed by PNP-Iriga, Bureau of Fire Protection, PHILVOCS, DOH, HEMS and of OCD-Iriga City in times of emergencies. This pioneering effort of UNEP to organize an Emergency Response Team will address not just to mitigate the threats of disasters but will rise as a challenge to save lives and properties at the most appropriate time.