Invited Article
Jerry Velasquez, D. Eng.
Chief of Section, Advocacy and Outreach
UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)
9-11 Rue de Varembé CH1202 Geneva, Switzerland
Chief of Section, Advocacy and Outreach
UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)
9-11 Rue de Varembé CH1202 Geneva, Switzerland
In a quiet city of Sendai in Japan just before midnight on
March 18, 2015, 185 States adopted the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction, a new global roadmap for reducing disaster risks globally for the
next 15 years. Adopted at the closing event of the 3rd UN World
Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR), States through the Framework
committed to reduce the number of deaths, people affected, economic losses, and
damages to critical infrastructures over 15 years. To do this, they committed to radically improve
their national and local risk reduction plans and strategies, increase
technical cooperation and support to developing countries, and improve availability
and access to early warning systems and risk information.
The Philippines, one of the most active countries who
negotiated the Framework, welcome its adoption. The Philippines pushed for the
Framework to address disaster-related health issues, migrants, inclusion of the
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council’s Pre-Disaster Risk
Assessment (PDRA) concept, and the strengthening of international cooperation
and global partnership. The Philippines also strongly worked for the inclusion
of the concept of “multi-hazard” early warning systems in the Framework, and
for the recognition of the need to empower local authorities/local communities
in DRR
The Philippines succeeded in getting these issues in the
Sendai Framework, with many paragraphs in the priority areas containing
references to multi-hard early warning systems in improving efforts in DRR. Social Welfare and
Development Secretary Dinky Soliman, head of the Philippine delegation to the WCDRR
welcomed the Sendai Framework and noted the country’s strong commitment to
implement it.
The Sendai Framework calls on States to undertake a few
things urgently, and these will all be relevant for the Philippines. These include
the appointment of national focal points for the Framework, who will then be
responsible for national coordination, to nominate experts to open-ended
inter-governmental working group for development of indicators &
terminology, to update risk information for biological, man-made hazards, to update
national & local DRR strategies & plans with targets and indicators and
with a balance of goals to reduce existing risks, prevent future risks and
build resilience to deal with residual risks.
It also calls States to report status of implementation of
plans, identify baselines & set targets for risks and DRR action, review
and update relevant national legislation, work with other States to update
regional DRR strategies, promote the development of local platforms on DRR, and
promote coherence across sustainable development and climate agreements in
2015.
With coming sunset review of the 2010 Philippine Disaster
Risk Reduction and Management Act in 2015, the gearing up of actions and
funding through the Philippine Survival Fund on Climate Change, a number of
opportunities are available to use the Sendai Framework for its own benefit.
For example, it maybe possible to promote a more open review
of the 2010 DRRM Act with a view of revising the Law and more importantly
update the national and local plans on DRR. There is also scope to revisit the
MOU signed between the NDRRMC and CCC in 2012 to improve cooperation especially
in the provision of coherent risk information locally and the development of
coherent and improved local DRRM plans.
There may also be other opportunities for the Philippines to
capitalize on the Sendai Framework to improve its work in disaster risk
reduction and management. However to start it would be necessary for the
country to begin with an in depth and multi stakeholder reading of the Sendai Framework
in the near future.
The rationale for action in this area for the Philippines is
clear. Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to
natural hazards, including cyclonic storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes,
droughts, forest fires, landslides, and epidemics. The reported disaster data
for the past 40 years shows that Philippines was visited by 243 storms in the
last three decades, causing total economic losses of $ 6.2 billion.
The Sendai Framework is the successor to The Hyogo Framework
for Action 2005-2015 (HFA1) - Building the Resilience of Nations and
Communities to Disasters, which came out of the World Conference held in Kobe,
Hyogo, Japan. The new framework for DRR aims to guide nations, communities and
other actors in managing risks and preventing the creation of new risks
post-2015.
Chief of Section, Advocacy and Outreach
UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)
9-11 Rue de Varembé CH1202 Geneva, Switzerland
T: +41 22 917 8901 M: +41 79 217 3060 F: +41 229178964
E: velasquezg@un.org W: http://www.unisdr.org/
Twitter: @jerry_velasquez Skype: jerry.velasquez99
