Clark Freeport, Pampanga—Moving quickly with coordinated efforts is very important in addressing any disaster and calamities in the country, the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation stressed.
This was the assessment made by the multi-sectoral group from Southeast Asia and Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs during a weeklong seminar here that ended over the weekend.
Brown University was represented by Dr. Adam Levine, director of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.
Guillermo Luz, chief resilience officer of the PDRF, said that when natural disaster strikes, it is important for responders to move quickly and in a coordinated manner.
“We believe that innovation and coordination within a large group of players will lead to more effective response,” Luz said.
He also said the partnership between the PDRF and Brown University, which started last year, “makes all involved better humanitarian workers.”
According to Luz, their group includes government agencies, private sectors, civic organizations and academe that made their assessment through lectures and field exercises, working with local and international humanitarian experts on how to achieve coordination during disasters and calamities.
The program from Sept. 15 to 21, with a theme "An Intensive Course on Innovation in International and Local Humanitarian Coordination in the ASEAN Region," was held at the PDRF operation center here.
Since 2015, the PDRF has been partnering with local and international organizations in capacity building initiative to better and improve management disaster and calamities response management.
PDRF is recognized by the United Nations as a global model for establishing public-private partnership in disaster risk reduction management.