Legarda urges gov’t to learn about building resilience from 2014 ASEM

Sen. Loren Legarda / Photo from Legarda’s official Facebook page.

MANILA — Senator Loren Legarda on Monday urged the government to take the opportunity to share and learn about building resilience from the 2014 Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Manila Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) which the country will host on June 4-6 this year.

“Through the ASEM Conference, the Philippines is given the chance to share its experience not only in coping with disasters but more importantly in its quest to build resilience as well as to learn from other nation’s stories,” Legarda, a UNISDR Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Asia-Pacific, said.

The lady lawmaker said the conference will take from the Philippines’ Yolanda (Haiyan) experience.

”With this, delegates will aim to craft the Tacloban Declaration which contains recommendations on improved disaster prevention and preparedness efforts to better manage disasters,” she said.

Legarda said the ASEM Manila Conference is a chance for the Philippines to take the lead in the shaping of DRRM policy ”because though we are a nation beset with challenges from disasters and climate change, we have many best practices on DRRM to share.”

Before the plenary proper, the ASEM delegates will visit Tacloban on June 4 to know the experience of the victims of Yolanda and on how they were able to cope with the aftermath.

Aside from Legarda who will speak on DRRM, other plenary speakers include Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, European Union (EU) Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Kristalina Georgieva, and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) Head Margareta Wahlstrom.

The lead coordinator for the conference is the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in partnership with the Office of Civil Defense (OCD).