The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has boosted the preparedness and response capabilities of eight local government units (LGUs) in Bulacan in times of disaster.

DOST 3 (Central Luzon) Director Julius Caesar Sicat said Friday their agency provided one unit each of the unsinkable small watercraft (USW) to the coastal and flood-prone municipalities of Bulacan – Bocaue, Bulakan, Calumpit, Hagonoy, Obando, Paombong, Pulilan, and the city of Malolos.

Sicat said the distribution of the USWs, held on Thursday, was under the DOST’s Expanded Implementation of the Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (eCEST) program.

“This initiative, under the eCEST program, aims to strengthen the disaster rescue and relief capabilities of vulnerable communities through the adoption of locally developed disaster risk reduction management technologies,” he said in a social media post.

After the turnover ceremony, an actual demonstration and operational training of the technologies was facilitated by the Bulakenyo inventor and current president of the Filipino Inventors Society, Ronald Pagsanghan.

The body of the USW is made of a polyester resin-marine grade composite and weighs about 180 pounds that can be lifted by only two individuals.

The rescue boat is also powered by a heavy-duty 7-HP premium-fueled motor engine and equipped with head gears, life vest jackets, paddles, thermal blanket, spine board, search and emergency light, and siren.

Aside from LGUs in Bulacan, the DOST will also provide the local government unit of Casiguran in Aurora with watercraft.

“With this, the DOST helps strengthen the disaster response of coastal and flood-prone communities by ensuring the availability of emergency ambulatory boats,” Sicat added. (PNA)