Strengthening resilience to disasters among vulnerable urban poor communities in Manila

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In addition, the participant noted that the different barangays in Valenzuela City and their citizens are exerting conscious and active effort to prepare each family for disasters. There are barangay volunteers to watch their areas. Partnerships have been forged with different organizations and government offices such as the Department of Education. More so, there are disaster drills and orientations conducted in public schools and a few private schools.

3.2.2 Barangay-Level

BARANGAY ARKONG BATO Adults

Structural

Environmental

Social/Attitudinal

Political/ Institutional

Economic

• Coordination of all sectors with one another • Open communication and deliberations • Unity among people • Gratitude of people • Cooperation of the community • Understanding one another • Helping one another • Social Concern (Pakikipagkapwa Tao) • Sympathetic citizenry

Perception of urban resilience of adult stakeholders in Barangay Arkong Bato, Valenzuela City.

Preparedness • • • •

Readiness in giving prompt warning in time of disaster Preparedness and helping one another in time of crisis Preparedness of every family Readiness of the citizenry

Representatives of Arkong Bato – from the barangay councilmen and local government unit officers to parents and teachers, and members of different organizations – understood the concept of urban resilience as being mostly a social aspect, noting coordination and unity as the main contributors to urban resilience. Open communication and deliberation, unity, social concern and social citizenry, and understanding among members of the community were likewise identified as parts of the concept of urban resilience. Similar to the city-level conceptualization of urban resilience, preparedness and readiness stood out as the primary aspects in the perceptions of urban resilience. Other definitions of urban resilience are: preparedness on individual and household level; readiness of the citizenry as a whole; demonstration in helping one another in times of crisis; and the prompt warnings from authorities in times of disasters. Unlike the children and the youth, the adult representatives focused on the social/attitudinal aspect and the preparedness aspect in their description of urban resilience with respect to their barangay.

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