When Disaster Strikes: How TVET Institutions Can Participate in Quick Response Efforts

As another very strong typhoon leaves the Philippine area of responsibility (16 dead, PhP21.3 million damages to roads, bridges and irrigation facilities in Cagayan alone; Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 29, 2011), local government units and various government agencies are scrambling to put into place activities that are intended to help the affected provinces get back to their feet.  In most cases, the immediate concerns include the restoration of road networks, electricity, water facilities and communication lines.  After these however, the concerns will begin to move on to helping the local economy recover from the damages to crops, loss of properties and paralysis of business activities.

To help them do this, local government units can implement quick response programs which, in essence,are economic recovery packages that involves various government agencies and partner private and non-government organizations.  For local government units that have already tried implementing these programs, the most prominent players usually include the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Health, the Philippine National Police, the Department of Education (mainly for the schools that also act as evacuation centers) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.  The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, much less the public and private technical-vocational institutions, often only have minor role in these programs.  However, this is often not due to the inherent lack of relevance of their services but often due to the limitations in the perception of what this government agency and the TVET sector in general can do.

In reality, TVET institutions can do much in implementing post-disaster quick response programs for local government units.  A couple of them:

  • Restoration of damaged public buildings and similar infrastructures through training cum production schemes.  After a severe disaster, people often need extra income to cope with the damages.  Unemployed persons often need to work to supplement the expected family income, which in some cases, could be delayed or diminished if not totally wiped out.  Meanwhile, local governments need to restore infrastructures fast.  More workers will be needed in the short-run.  A training program for example, in carpentry and masonry or electrical installation and maintenance for the people of the affected communities, would be very helpful in giving the unemployed (or even the employed who cannot report for work for the meanwhile) a chance to gain income (perhaps paid for by the local government or the local electric cooperative) while he helps rebuild his own community.
  • Restoration of farm lands through planting of fast growth, high value crops.  Especially after a very bad typhoon, crops that are supposed to be harvested could not be harvested because they have been destroyed.  Meanwhile, farmers who are expecting to earn from them are often left with debts from the purchase of the farm inputs.  To help them attain some income, local government units can provide seeds for fast-growth, high values crops that could grow and be harvested within three to four weeks or so.  The distribution of these free farm inputs should be coupled with a quick technical training especially if the concerned farmers have been planting traditional crops such as rice or corn.  Many high-value, fast-growth crops thrive well in silted soil--a common condition after a flood.
What particular interventions TVET institutions can participate in the post-disaster, quick-response programs of the local governments depend much on reliable information as to the exact extent and location of the damages, the capabilities of the various TVET institutions and the resources that are available. These however, need to be identified and assured long way before disasters happen, not after, if the program is to be truly effective. Thus, it is necessary that local chief executives involve TVET institutions in formulating disaster response strategies, together with other government agencies.

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