Clark Freeport—Effective risk management should be prepared, coordinated, and planned before any disaster strikes.
Mark Bidder, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) in the Philippines, pointed this out Tuesday in a seminar here.
Bidder said effective planning, sharing expertise and working together is very hard to do effectively in the midst of a disaster.
Addressing participants from the 172 foreign countries on the 2018 World Risk Index held at the Philippines Disaster Resilience Foundation Emergency Operation Center here, Bidder said that it happens most in preparing modes.
The Philippines ranked 3rd in the World Risk Index due to its very high exposure to extreme hazards.
Bidder said sharing and innovating planning for future both natural and manmade disaster and calamities is one of the best course of actions.
The two-day affair aims to strengthen joint effort of private sectors’ involvement in the disaster risk reduction and management.
The participants visited the National Disaster Risk and Management Council Emergency Operation Center and the Makati City Emergency Operation Center where they were updated to the current coordinating efforts of the private sector with the national and local government agencies.
Karen Smith of the UN-OCHA and advisor of the New York Business Partnership said the World Risk Index was held in the country because they put significant focus on Asia Pacific region because of its wide range of natural hazards as well as manmade risks complex emergencies.
“Our primary goal is to ensure that everyone is engaged with the process of community development,” Smith said.
The two-day event was jointly hosted by the Philippines Disaster Resilience Foundation with Connecting Business Initiative, United Nations Development Programme, and UN-OCHA.
Participants include representatives of CBI in the Pacific, Southeast Asia, Fiji National Disaster Management Office, Vanuatu Business Development Committee, the Pacific Island Private Sector Organization, among others.