Protect 2010 to tackle man-made, natural disasters

MANILA, Philippines - A partnership between the public and private sectors to reduce large-scale vulnerability of people and critical infrastructures to both man-made and natural disasters will be the result of a two-day forum and exhibit, PROTECT 2010 (Doing Business Amidst New Threats) organized by the Anti-Terrorism Council and Leverage International (Consultants) Inc. starting tomorrow, April 15 at the New World Hotel.

Attending the events are participants from the national and local governments and leading corporations. Their boardrooms acknowledge that a heightened risk in environment has overwhelmed the capacities of towns, cities and the national government and private corporations to mitigate risks not only against terrorism but against natural disasters, as well.

The theme of the conference is “Disaster Risk Reduction”. Interested parties may contact Leverage International (Consultants) at 810-1389; 818-6828 or Fax No. 810-1594 or E-mail: [email protected].

Government and companies are compelled to improve disaster risk reduction management due to extensive damages triggered by increasing severity and frequency of natural disasters.

Damages caused by natural disasters are heavier borne by private companies. Last year, typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in Luzon caused an estimated loss and damages of $4.4 billion, of which 90 percent was shouldered by the private sector. This is because most of the country’s critical infrastructures are owned and operated by private companies.

Participants to the two-day forum and exhibit are from the national and local governments, embassies, power and energy companies, food manufacturing, banking, insurance, hotels, hospitals, schools, shopping malls, call centers/BPOs, telecoms, and property developers.

Take-away advantages to be gained from the two events include a partnership between the private and public sectors against cyberterrorism, disaster risk reduction coordination, updated technologies that are readily implementable when the participants return to their offices, competitive edge in the marketplace for companies with a reputation for resiliency despite a crisis, and compliance with mandates by regulatory agencies and stockholders for corporate good governance.

The gathering will include four sessions: Session 1 - Threats from man-made and natural disasters; Session 2 — Overcoming major threats in doing business; Session 3 — Reducing threats — Preventing crisis; Session 4 — Business considerations.   

The session ends with the launching in the Philippines of the latest security systems by Sony of Japan, Axis of Singapore and I-Secure of Singapore.

A specialized exhibit will present the new security and surveillance systems to be introduced by Axis, I-Secure and Sony.