Davide forms technical group for disaster preparedness

CEBU, Philippines - In a bid to strengthen disaster resiliency among the 51 towns and component cities of Cebu, the governor has created the disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation technical working group (TWG).

Governor Hilario Davide III has recently issued Executive Order 07 that created the TWG that is tasked to work on mainstreaming the province's disaster contingency plan and framework.

To achieve a more comprehensive program for disaster risk reduction and management and climate change adaptation (DRRM-CCA), Davide said the provincial government, through the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), has initiated the project dubbed “Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in Cebu Province Local Governance.”

“It aimed at providing various capacity building activities that would better prepare the 51 local government units of the province during disaster,” he said in a two-page order.

Davide said the DRRM-CCA TWG will give technical review, facilitate the inter-agency coordination, and monitor the implementation of the mainstreaming project.

The team is composed of the PDRRMO head as the chairman, while other offices involved in disaster risk reduction and management will sit as members, including the Department of Interior and Local Government-7, Department of Social Welfare and Development-7, Office of the Civil Defense-7, League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Cebu Chapter, and Liga ng mga LDRRMO sa Sugbo.

The mainstreaming project will be done in three phases and is set to be completed within three to four years.

The first phase, which will run for seven months, is the development of DRRM-CCA and contingency plans for 51 LGUs, followed by the development of comprehensive land use plans and development plans, and the support of sectoral DRRM-CCA development plans, programs, and activities.

The Capitol has engaged a service provider composed of the joint venture partnership of Berkman International Inc., Certeza Infosys Corporation, and A2D Project Research Group for Alternatives to Development Inc. for the Phase 1 of the project.

The project, Davide said, is in consonance with Republic Act No. 10121 (Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010), which mandates the PDRRMO to set the direction and provide technical guidance to city and municipal DRRM councils on capacity building, hazard and risk assessment, and disaster risk reduction and management planning.

“The provincial government supports the national government’s policy to adopt a disaster risk reduction and management approach that is holistic, comprehensive, integrated, proactive, and participative, especially at the local community level,” Davide said. (FREEMAN)