23 January 2007
LEGAZPI CITY—UNITED STATES Ambassador Kristie Kenney and Sen. Richard Gordon, Philippine National Red Cross chair, arrived here yesterday to help the US Marines in giving away gifts to typhoon victims.
Hundreds of affected families received clothing, food, hygiene kits and other items in the project dubbed “Operation Goodwill,” an annual donation made by members of the 3rd US Marine Expeditionary Brigade and their families to communities and charitable organizations in the country.
Kenney said they came here to help the disaster victims get back on their feet and to think about how they could continue to respond to natural disasters.
“Man cannot control nature. We don’t know when a typhoon will strike or what it will do and when a volcano will erupt, so we can think about how we prepare for disaster,” Kenney said.
She said the Red Cross and the US were working together on how they could warn citizens and share information quickly in times of disaster.
Kenney and Gordon tested a newly installed nationwide text alert messaging system funded by the US Agency for International Development and managed by the Red Cross.
This emergency information system will alert local officials and residents with weather reports, evacuation instructions, and vital disaster information via text message.
Gordon said the new system would increase the people’s level of awareness and quicken the disaster response of authorities so communities would get answers to their relief needs faster.
Jon Lindborg, USAID mission director, said the big issue now aside from long-term restoration efforts comes in terms of disaster preparedness and planning.
Kenney and Gordon successfully sent the first text message using the new system. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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