Gamiaw Region: Emergency hotline 911 experiences glitches in Cebu City

The city disaster risk office said "the system is still new and there will be improvement soon."

File photo via philstar and Philippine News Agency

CEBU CITY, Philippines - The nationwide 24-hour emergency hotline 911 experienced glitches in its first days of implementation in Cebu City.

 

Three legitimate calls from Cebu City were referred to the command and control center (C3) for response.

 

But the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CCDRRMO), which manages the C3, took several minutes to respond to the emergencies.

 

CCDRRMO chief Nagiel Bañacia said a longer response time was experienced since all calls would have to go through the 911 system in Manila before they were diverted to Cebu for the response.

 

Aside from that, he said, details relayed to them were incomplete, which meant the responders needed more time to locate those who had called for help.

 

In one medical alarm in Barangay Lorega, Bañacia, said it took them 30 minutes to locate and respond because of the lack of details given to them.

 

After receiving the call, Bañacia said they had to call the barangay because the name of the sitio given to them by the 911 personnel did not exist.

 

One of the three calls referred by 911 to C3 was an alarm in Danao City, which is no longer under Cebu City’s jurisdiction.

 

Bañacia said the city cannot respond to the alarm, which should have been referred to the concerned local government unit.

 

“The process is very long but we understand that the system is still new and there will be improvement soon. It needs a big labor to improve coordination and to strengthen the process,” he said.