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THE
Philippine National Red Cross has recruited 14
companies—with technological capacity and expertise,
hundreds of employees, and various types of national
networks like sales and technical services—to help the
aid organization during times of need such as after
typhoons, landslides and the like.
“This
program is both for the company to beef up its internal
emergency response capacity and to take its corporate
social responsibility to a new level,” said businessman
Phillip S. Pastoral on Monday. He is treasurer of the RC
Rizal chapter.
The
recruited companies have been organized into the
so-called Red Cross Alliance of Partners, or Redcap,
thus allowing for quick mobilization in times of
disasters.
“The Red
Cross has relied on individual volunteers for its blood
bank and quick response to disasters, but we saw in June
that companies and other groups already have the
resources and system that we could tap,” said Pastoral.
As of
now, the Red Cross has only 3,000 individual members to
cover seven major cities, while the 14 companies who
signed up for Redcap “could mobilize three or four times
that number.” They include Smart Communications Inc. and
Vivendi Corp., both in electronic telecommunications.
“They
are organized; they will follow their chief executives
and directors; so much so that during the critical
hours, they could easily mobilize and respond to the
needs of a community affected by a disaster in a matter
of a few hours, if not within the hour, using their
advanced telecommunications network as well as using it
to coordinate with national and local government
efforts,” he said.
The
Philippines is located on the edge of the Pacific Rim of
Fire, so-called because of the volcanoes that surround
the ocean, making land masses in it vulnerable to
earthquakes, which occur at least six times a day in
various locations and even under water, which could
cause tsunamis. The country is also highly vulnerable to
typhoons.
Pastoral
said, “While two or three companies who are Redcap
members provide immediate response, like evacuation,
directing traffic, giving first aid during these
disasters, other Red Cross members are freed to focus on
putting together support in areas far from ground zero.”
Luis
Galvez, Red Cross Rizal Chapter board member, added that
in the absence of disaster, the Redcap members could be
engaged in training, drills, and beefing up the blood
pool.
The
planned blood database would be easier to do because the
Redcap member-company could ask some of their employees
to donate, he explained, adding, “we wouldn’t be waiting
anymore for walk-ins or individual blood donors.”
Galvez
added it would be easier to see how many blood types are
in excess or in weak supply and which company could fill
in the gap.
Another
advantage is that the Red Cross could search its
database of member company employees to look for rare
blood types among them, and after a match, it would be
easier to tap the individual or individuals for blood
donations, according to Galvez. |
