Multi-sectoral partnerships sought for disaster management plan

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1012464
• Thursday, October 12, 2017

By Perla Lena (PNA)

ILOILO CITY -- The Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) has gathered representatives from the academe, civil society organizations (CSOs) and private sector for the two-day multi-stakeholder dialogue to get their involvement in disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM).

OCD regional director Rosario Cabrera on Wednesday said that their output in four thematic areas will be integrated in the regional DRRM plan to have “comprehensive programs, projects and activities for the region.” The thematic areas are prevention mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation.

During the last day of consultation, Cabrera shared that some of the representatives raised their concern on the policy of involving state universities and colleges (SUCs). In the criteria provided under the national DRRM council issuance, only non-state are involved, she said.

“However it does not limit them to be involved in the activities on DRRM. Probably, it’s only their representation in the council. However we consider that as one of the inputs that we will bring to the attention of the NDRRMC,” she assured.

“But then in relation to the four thematic areas, we can have them involve as we would like also to get more support from the CSOs, NGOs (non-government organizations),” she added.

The updated RDRRM plan will be presented for approval to the national council on October 17.

Meantime, OCD has extended technical assistance to the conduct of incident command system (ICS) for the municipality of Bingawan, Iloilo that culminated Wednesday afternoon.

“This is the mechanism that we will use particularly in the response of a major disaster to ensure efficient and effective coordination of operations,” she explained.

The ICS has been cascaded to all provinces of Western Visayas.

A comprehensive plan formulation workshop is also being held for the town of Leganes.