The Department of the Interior and Local Government, in partnership with Philippine Public Safety College, conducted the L!STONGPamayanan Community Drill Simulation on August 28-30, 2017 at Anchor Hotel, General Santos City. It was attended by the local government units situated in the Malungon-Buayan River Basin.

The proven partners of the office in building disaster-resilient region namely; DOST-PAGASA, DOST-PHIVOLCS and OCD also acted as Resource Speakers. Specifically, the activity focused on flooding as the prime hazard faced by the communities. The activity concluded with a community drill simulated in Barangay Baluan, General Santos City wherein the participants showcase their learnings on Early Warning System, Incident Command System, Basic Search and Rescue and Camp Coordination and Management.

Dr. Joseph Bacareza, L!STONG Pamayanan Training Coordinator, encouraged participating LGUs to plan and evaluate their existing plans through continued community drills.

L!STONGPamayanan is the second component of Operation L!STO which is dubbed as the flagship program of the office in Disaster Preparedness. It aims to increase the level of awareness and preparedness of communities against disasters through drill and community-based disaster risk reduction. This year it is focused on the LGUs in Easter Sea Boards for Luzon and Visayas, and in Major River Basins for Mindanao.