The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said Monday, July 3, that a collective effort must be done to ensure the safety of communities against disaster.

*Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno (Courtesy of Office of Civil Defense)

* OCD Administrator Ariel Nepomuceno emphasized the importance of adopting a “whole-of-nation” approach in building disaster-resilient communities especially in observance of the National Disaster Resilience Month (NDRM) this July. “NDRM 2023 is a call for us to continue working to make the Signature Filipino Smile of Resilience clearly stand for our ability to mitigate, prepare, respond, and recover from disasters,” Nepomuceno said. “The time is now for us to scale up our strategies and work in surmounting the impacts of disaster through foresight and preparedness,” he continued. The OCD chief said that the office’s goal is to make for this year’s observance of NDRM is to “bring our nation closer to the goal of building safer, climate change adaptive and disaster resilient communities.” To achieve this, he said the OCD will continue to advocate for action and cooperation from all levels of governance, community-based organizations, and the general public to ensure the safety, adaptiveness, and resilience of all Filipinos. The OCD also launched photography and video-making contests dubbed as “Resilience Mobile Photography” and “Reel-silience” to encourage public participation in the observance of the NDRM. Every year, various disasters and calamities occur in the Philippines such as typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, making it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. It is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire which explains the volume of volcanic and seismic activities, as well as in the "Typhoon Belt" in the Pacific Ocean so it is visited by at least 20 storms per year. As such, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), through the OCD, leads the month-long celebration of the NDRM as mandated by Executive Order Number 29 signed on June 28, 2017 to reiterate to the public the importance of preparedness and disaster prevention.