 The people, themselves, through the initiatives of their own civil society organizations must become active planners, implementers and beneficiaries of community-based disaster response and preparedness programs to mitigate - if not totally prevent - damage and destruction wrought by worsening calamities upon the people’s lives, livelihood and the environment. This is the most important lesson that has inspired the founders of the Morong Volunteers’ Emergency Response Team (MVERT) to organize the voluntary organization from a ragtag team of volunteers without a headquarters, firefighters without a fire truck, and rescuers without rescue equipment since its early days in late 2005 into one of today’s leading community-based and volunteered-powered disaster response NGO in Eastern Rizal. Founded on November 2005, the MVERT is registered at the S.E.C and duly accredited by the Municipal government of Morong, Rizal. The MVERT’s true source of strength comes from the commitment of its volunteer firefighters, rescuers and medical responders, and its reliance on the continuous support of the community. The volunteers are ordinary people – farmers, workers, entrepreneurs, professionals, church workers, and former OFWs – who perform extraordinary tasks by working as a team. Its mini fire truck, rescue and medical equipment are products of every member’s and every donor’s blood sweat and tears shed in strenuous but creative fund raising campaigns. In fact, the free use of its present headquarters at the ground floor of the Morong Balikbayan Building (previously occupied by the Morong Post Office) is the result of successful lobbying at the Sangguniang Bayan and Office of the Mayor spearheaded by MVERT with the support of its allies. The MVERT has proven its worth in suppressing structural and bush fires, responding to typhoon and flood victims, providing first aid to victims of medical emergencies, facilitating training on fire and earthquake preparedness as well as in organizing disaster coordinating councils and quick reaction teams in schools, campuses, churches, business establishments and barangays not only in Morong but in other nearby towns of Eastern Rizal. Moronguenos and the Balikbayan community recognized MVERT’s important role at the height of the Morong Dengue Outbreak last 2006. The volunteers donated their own blood to people stricken by the deadly vector-borne disease, led series of Iwas-Dengue information drives and carried out fogging operations at barangays worst hit by the outbreak. Helping people help themselves in times of disasters is the guiding principle followed and practiced by MVERT. In times of widespread calamities and emergencies, the capabilities and resources of regular responders and government units are too often overstretched, resulting in delay in providing timely emergency assistance to victims. MVERT enables potential victims to become trained rescuers in their own communities through disaster preparedness programs and building of community-based emergency response units. By doing so, homes, schools, workplaces and communities become prepared to cope with the impact of horrific disasters and impacts of climate change in the 21st century. 
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 Two Years of Volunteer- Powered Disaster Response.pptThis PowerPoint presentation was shown during the 2nd Founding Anniversary Celebration of the Morong Volunteers’ Emergency Response Team on November 2007. Although it does not cover the MVERT’s history and accomplishments from 2008 up to the... more
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