BY: RACHELLE M. NESSIA
LAPULAPU CITY, Cebu, April 1 (PIA) ---
Key personnel from the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) are
undergoing a three-day disaster preparedness training starting March 31 in a
bid to make the airport better prepared to respond to natural disaster situations.
The training dubbed “Get Airports Ready
for Disasters (GARD)” is conducted by United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and Deutsche Post DHL.
The training is attended by 55 key
employees not only from MCIA but also from government line agencies and
non-government organizations who were closely involved during the relief
operations at Cebu airport in the heels of typhoon Yolanda
It can be recalled that the Philippine
government made MCIA as the hub of international relief operations and aid
coming into the country days after super storm Yolanda battered central
Philippines.
MCIA General Manager Nigel Paul
Villarete said that before Yolanda struck, preparations were done to ensure
that Cebu airport will immediately function a day after the storm, and for 12
days after, without water and electricity from the outside world.
However, when the national government
decided to turn MCIA as the hub for international relief aid, Villarete said
they were unprepared for the massive cargo that came their way.
“Nothing prepared us for the influx of
that large volume of cargo… handling cargo that was three times or five times
our normal capacity was something we were not prepared for,” admitted Villarete
in his message during the GARD launching program yesterday.
At its peak days, the Cebu airport
normally handles about 130 tons of cargo per day.
But on November 16, 2013 or eight days
after the super typhoon, Villarete said the airport received nearly 1,000 tons
of cargo with the airport handlers struggling to unload massive
volumes of relief cargo being flown in via 747 aircrafts.
Villarete said their capability to
unload cargo for one 747 is around four hours and yet that day, there were
three 747s arriving within two hours of each other.
“That day was particularly difficult
for us with some of the donors getting angry because we could not unload the
cargo immediately,” Villarete recalled.
When the relief aid from Israeli government arrived - the third 747 aircraft to land at the airport that day - Villarete said their handlers could not unload the relief cargo until ten hours after.
After the GARD training, Villarete said
they aim to produce a manual of operations for disaster relief operations
at the airport.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the
Philippines (CAAP) has earlier granted MCIA with an aerodrome certificate, the
only airport in the Philippines given the distinction as the safest airport in
the country.
“This certificate means that we have
all the manuals of the aerodrome on how to operate and we want to include as
part of that manual of operations how to react to disaster and calamities,” he
said.
This is the second GARD training held
by UNDP and DHL in the Philippines, with the first held in May last year at
Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
According to UNDP Philippines Country
Director Maurice DeWulf, contingency planning and the GARD training are part of
UNDP’s efforts to enhance preparedness.
“Given the archipelagic nature of the
country, the airports were crucial to the distribution and deployment of debris
clearing equipment and expert personnel—they also play a big role in
maintaining the smooth flow of relief supplies and rescue personnel and
facilitate the entry and eventual distribution of life-saving supplies,” said
DeWulf.
DeWulf is also hopeful that after the training, airport officials
and personnel here together with the staff from ancillary agencies can craft a
comprehensive action plan “that will keep the airport running smoothly should
another crisis occur.” (RMN/PIA Cebu)