Makati investing heavily in building resilience

MANILA, Philippines — The adverse effects of natural weather disturbances on families, communities, and the local economy have prompted the Makati city government to invest heavily in building resilience, Mayor Abby Binay recently told an international forum in Seoul, South Korea.

The mayor, who was the only Filipino presenter at the International Urban Resilience Forum in Seoul, emphasized in her presentation that Makati was the third in the world and the first in the Philippines to have formulated its pre-disaster recovery plan.

The mayor’s presentation, titled “Makati City: Building resilience at the local level,” laid out the city’s disaster management plans and strategies, which are focused on the following objectives: reduce disaster-related mortality and injuries; minimize the number of affected people; reduce direct disaster economic loss; and minimize damage to infrastructure and disruption of basic services.

The Makati pre-disaster recovery plan contains the city’s policies and activities from pre-disaster to post-disaster phases, including vital mechanisms and systems to be pre-positioned for smoother and faster recovery.

The mayor also presented the Makati earthquake contingency plan and the contingency plan for hydro-meteorological hazards which will the needs of residents who live near the Pasig River and in some barangays that sit on top of the West Valley Fault.

Mayor Abby also cited the legal bases for the city’s DRRM initiatives, including Republic Act 10121 or the Philippine DRRM Act of 2010, which is the basis of the city’s DRRM framework, institutionalization of plans, fund appropriation, and implementation of programs.

Other legal bases include Climate Change Act of 2009; Children’s Emergency Relief and Protection Act; and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction Global Targets.

She said the city has ensured that its plans and strategies are aligned with those at the national and regional levels, with the goal of harmonizing approaches among the four thematic areas: prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery and rehabilitation.

The forum, co-hosted by Seoul Metropolitan Government and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and organized by the Seoul Institute of Technology, aimed to provide a venue for local government units across the globe to share their DRRM best practices.

The participants included mayors, governors, executives in disaster management, professors, academics, disaster experts, and urban planning specialists.