Enhanced disaster early warning system pushed
CITING increasing risk of disasters caused by climate change, the Philippines through a delegation composed of government agency officials has urged anew members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific to strengthen disaster resilience by enhancing early warning systems in the region.
The renewed call came after the country was elected chair of the 8th session of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) during the latest session in Bangkok, Thailand.
Environment and Natural Resources Undersecretary Marilou Erni, the delegation’s designated head and chief of staff for Strategic Communications, was elected by delegates from other member countries to chair the disaster risk reduction (DRR) panel in the meet.
Apart from the DENR, the Philippine delegation was composed of officials from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Science and Technology, and the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Thailand.
“A riskscape of complex, compound and cascading disasters is emerging. Forecasts are for risks in existing disaster hotspots to intensify and for new disaster hotspots to appear. There is an urgent need to strengthen disaster resilience, particularly through enhancing early warning systems, in Asia and the Pacific,” Erni said.
As a subsidiary body of ESCAP, the committee is the intergovernmental legislative forum on disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the Asia-Pacific region.
