Philippines: Mindanao Declaration - Create independent disaster management and risk reduction agency

A two-day Mindanao summit on disaster risk reduction and geo-hazard awareness, held to discuss and learn lessons from the Sendong tragedy in December, concluded with the approval of an eight-point declaration urging, among others, the passage of a law establishing a "permanent, independent disaster management and risk reduction agency," reports MindaNews.

The declaration acknowledged that mitigation and adaptation measures by all sectors and levels of government have been "inadequately implemented and weakly coordinated resulting in inefficient use of resources and lack of accountability" but also noted that most communities are "resilient and respond to disasters on their own, through self-help measures and reliance on their own capacities, which however are inadequate in the face of major disasters."