The National Resilience Council, Zuellig Family Foundation and the Manila Observatory met with Bataan Province, following the October 2018 training on Climate and Disaster Risk Assessment (CDRA). As part of the post-CDRA activities, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officers (DRRMOfficers) from Bataan municipalities attended a cascading workshop on risk mapping, data gathering & consolidation to start initial mapping for the provincial government, and to develop a geographic information system (GIS) team.
NRC, ZFF and MO also discussed with Bataan the parameters for an MO-led proposal on flood control and air quality management.
The National Resilience Council and Zuellig Family Foundation met with the core group from Bataan Peninsula State University (BPSU) for an orientation on the Resiliency Leadership Program and the BPSU runway as an NRC academic partner for Bataan Province. As an academic partner, BPSU undergoes capacitating activities of the NRC so it can pave the way for a localized and contextualized approach to implementing NRC’s program in the provincial government.
On 30 November 2019, Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) visited Iloilo City as part of its ongoing partnership with the local government unit. The visit follows a signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between NCDR and Iloilo City, where the city is set to adopt Taiwan’s risk assessment platform and to gain new automatic weather systems. As a partner of Iloilo City, the National Resilience Council also participated in the discussions.
On
18 October, a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) was signed between the Taiwanese
Government—through the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster
Reduction (NCDR)—and Iloilo City, in partnership with the National Resilience
Council (NRC) and the Manila Observatory (MO).
The MoC will provide Iloilo City an opportunity
to learn about and adopt Taiwan’s best practices on disaster risk reduction.
This also includes guidance in developing capacity-building tools and systems
that can aid in information analysis, risk assessment and policymaking.
Also
through NCDR, Taiwan’s technical adviser on disaster prevention and reduction,
the Taiwanese government will grant the establishment of 20 automatic weather
stations (AWS) in Iloilo City.
For
Iloilo City Mayor Jose Espinosa III, the partnership will contribute to the
city’s existing programs. Although there is an existing 24/7 operation center,
he said the city is also planning to set up a command center to complement
Taiwan’s AWS donation.
City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
Office (CDRRMO) chief Donna Magno said a command center for disaster response
and management will be greatly needed, especially with the city adopting
Taiwan’s risk assessment platform. Taiwan will also be a big help in terms of
gathering data at the community level because its technologies. Currently,
Iloilo could only access regional data.
Iloilo
City was chosen through NRC, a science and technology-based public-private
partnership working towards disaster resilience in the Philippines. The city is
one of the eight LGUs undergoing NRC’s Resilient LGU Program designed to capacitate
LGUs in developing and implementing comprehensive programs for disaster risk reduction
through a Resilience Scorecard that covers five pillars: Leadership and
Governance, Human Development Systems, Local Economy, Infrastructure and
Environment.
NCDR
Director Hongey Chen also cited the city’s commendable knowledge-based programs
on disaster risk reduction and management as reason for its interest.
With
MO—a Jesuit scientific institution focused on advancing its mission in
environmental and pre-disaster science—onboard, the initiative will produce new
scientific researches.
Following
the MoC, Iloilo City will send a representative to Taiwan for a field visit.
NCDR, in turn, will hold inspections at the city’s flood areas where the AWS
can be installed.