Philippines: 'Undergoing shift to disaster risk reduction' - PIA
Philippines Information Agency press release
Tacloban, Leyte -- Every year in the Philippines, floods, landslides and mudslides destroy settlements and valuable agricultural land, and claim human lives.
The Philippines is currently undergoing a shift from a reactive system of disaster management, to more proactive disaster risk reduction and management, as demonstrated by the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Act, which recently came into force.
With support from the Environment and Rural Development Program of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and funding from the European Union-DIPECHO and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, there are currently 19 local government units now operating flood early warning systems in eight watersheds on Leyte and Samar islands.
The Office of Civil Defense Executive Director, Ronald Flores will be visiting Tacloban, Palo, Burauen and Ormoc Leyte starting on June 9, 2011, to behosted by Region 8 Office of Civil Defense Director Rey Gozon.
The visit will concur with a meeting with the respective regional, provincial and municipal government officers and GIZ representatives at the Disaster Risk Management Office at the DILG Compound in Kanhuraw Hill, Tacloban City. Among the attending officials to share their experiences in the effectiveness of the Flood Early Warning Systems (FEWS) are: Francisco Jose CESO IV- DILG Regional Director; Vince Emnas - Provincial Administrator; Paul Mooney - Officer in Charge of the Early Warning System Operation Center of the Binahaan FEWS and Mayor Matin Petilla of Palo, Mayor Fe Sudario Renomeron of Burauen and Mayor Eric Capahi Codilla of Ormoc.
Since 2006, the Program has boosted disaster risk reduction and management expertise of its local government partners to plan and implement targeted risk reduction measures in their respective areas. Prior, there was very little appreciation of the local hazards owing to lack of hazard assessments.
The disaster coordinating councils at the municipal and barangay levels did not have clear-cut systems or procedures to carry out disaster management mandates effectively. There were no contingency plans and flood early warning systems.
Today, 185,000+ persons benefit from flood early warning systems in the six watersheds. The FEWSs in St. Bernard (Southern Leyte) and Binahaan (Leyte), are now able to issue timely warnings to residents of flood-affected areas.
By 2008, 57% of the interviewees reported less flood damage after the establishment of FEWS. “Before the GIZ FEWS, we were doing manual readings to assess what warnings to give to communities.
It needed enhancement because it risks the lives of persons tasked to observe the water levels and we were not able to issue timely warnings so communities and those tasked to respond in disasters can know what the status is, what kind of preparation and how much time they have to prepare their belongings and themselves if there is a need to evacuate to safer places.
The Local Flood Early Warning System installed with the support of GIZ, automatically monitors river and rainfall levels through strategic installation of gauges.
We know now, faster than before, how to interpret and communicate data effectively so we can efficiently prepare and deploy the necessary resources.
In the Guisaungon landslide, before the enhanced FEWS with GIZ was introduced, 1,000+ people died and seven barangays affected.
With the FEWS installed, last January of this year’s heavy rains, there were 3 casualties, 21 barangays were evacuated wherein 5,051 individuals were saved,” stated Rosalinda A. Araneta, Tourism Officer and Municipal Disaster Risk and Reduction Management Council Public Information Head of St. Bernard.
GIZ, in cooperation with St. Bernard, is currently testing a landslide warning system. This will reduce the risk of further casualties due to the extreme exposure of the municipality to this hazard.
The visit is expected to foster the nationwide establishment of Local Flood Early Warning Systems in cooperation between OCD and GIZ. Both offices
will explore other fields of working together.
GIZ is a federally-owned enterprise that supports the German government in the field of international development cooperation.
For more than 30 years now, GIZ has been cooperating with Philippine partners in strengthening the capacity of people and institutions to improve the lives of Filipinos in this generation and generations to come.
Together they work to balance economic, social and ecological interests through multi-stakeholder dialogue, participation and collaboration.
Most of its activities are commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). GIZ al so operates on behalf of other German ministries – in particular the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Environment Ministry and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research – as well as German federal states and municipalities, and public and private sector clients both in Germany and abroad.
These include the governments of other countries, the European Commission, the United Nations and the World Bank.(PIA-8)