The disaster chief of Nepal visited the country on Friday, July 25, to trade ideas and best practices in effective disaster response management.
Mr. Anil Pokhrel, Chief Executive of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), met with Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Deputy Administrator for Operations Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
During the visit, Alejandro discussed to Pokhrel the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management System.
The Philippine DRRM System was created by virtue of Republic Act 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 which was signed on May 27, 2010. It refers to the key concepts, legal frameworks, and thematic areas of DRRM in the Philippines, and was the basis for the creation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
Alejandro also presented to Pokhrel the NDRRM Plan 2020-2030 which is the country’s long-term national sectoral plan that seeks to address four main priority areas in DRRM namely disaster prevention and mitigation, disaster preparedness, disaster response, and rehabilitation and recovery.
The OCD official also tackled the country’s disaster response management which refers to the organization and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies.
The Philippines and Nepal have gone through some of the worst natural disasters in their respective histories.
Sitting at the Pacific Ring of Fire and the Typhoon Belt, the Philippines is vulnerable to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and an average of 20 typhoons per year.
Among the worst disasters faced by the country was the Super Typhoon Yolanda, which made landfall in Guiuan, Eastern Samar on Nov. 7, 2013, and is considered as the deadliest and one of the most powerful typhoons in the Philippines. It killed around 6,300 people while around 1,700 others went missing.
Also notable were the 1990 Luzon earthquake where a magnitude 7.7 quake killed 1,600 people and injured 3,500; and the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption which is considered as the second largest volcanic eruption in the 20th century.
Meanwhile, among Nepal’s worst calamities was the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that occurred on April 25, 2015. It killed nearly 9,000 people and injured an estimate of 22,000 others.
In an article at the Nepali Times published online last April 24, Pokhrel discussed the importance of rebuilding resilience in Nepal seven years after the destructive quake that hit his country.
“The creation of the NDRRMA is in itself a paradigm shift in Nepal’s approach to disaster risk management: from being mostly response-centric to prioritization of understanding risk, improved governance, financing, including preparedness for effective response, recovery and reconstruction,” he said.