Philippines: Munti inaugurates state-of-the-art disaster resilience mobile learning hub, first in NCR
In a bid to improve community resilience and level of disaster preparedness of city residents, the local government of Muntinlupa inaugurates its Mobile Learning Hub, the first innovative roving ‘learning bus’ in Metro Manila to teach disaster resilience.
Mayor Jaime Fresnedi, Congressman Ruffy Biazon, and other local officials inaugurated the Department of Disaster Resilience and Management (DDRM) Mobile Learning Hub during the City Government’s first flag raising ceremony in 2021 last January 4.
The learning bus is equipped with state-of-the-art Virtual Reality area where residents can wear VR headsets to experience being in ‘close-to-actual’ scenarios of disasters including earthquakes, flooding, storm surge, bomb explosion, chemical poisoning, volcanic eruption, tsunami, and landslide.
The VR facility aims to provide immersive, visual and sound-based experience of weather disturbances and calamities and to train residents on disaster response.
Further, the DDRM Mobile Learning Hub has an interactive Lecture Area with informative videos on COVID-19 Protective Measures, Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Preparedness, First Aid Response and Management, and Basic Life Support, among others.
Muntinlupa City DDRM chief Erwin Alfonso says the Mobile Learning Hub targets to mainstream disaster mitigation, adaptation, and resiliency by bringing learning resources to communities and vulnerable sectors.
Alfonso added that as the Learning Hub is expected to visit several communities during the time of the pandemic, health and safety protocols will be strictly implemented and regular disinfection of the facility will be conducted.
MCDDRM is yet to release the schedule of the Mobile Learning Hub through their Facebook Page.
Mayor Fresnedi hopes that the Mobile Learning Hub will empower Muntinlupeños to become well-prepared on disasters and calamities and to enhance their level of preparedness and awareness on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.
Recently, the local disaster response department also installed early warning system across the city to inform communities in a timely manner about typhoon signal warnings, severe flooding, and earthquakes, among others.
Muntinlupa City has been named Rank 1 in the Resilience Pillar – Highly Urbanized Cities category of the 2020 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index organized by the Department of Trade and Industry and National Competitiveness Council. The city bested at least 145 LGUs in the country and was followed by Valenzuela City (Rank 2) and Manila City (Rank 3).