DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman and World Food Program Country Director Praveen Agrawal exchange documents during the Signing Ceremony for the Letter of Understanding between the DSWD and the UN-WFP on Disaster Preparedness and Response Capacity Enhancement Project.

MANILA, Philippines – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is partnering with the Government of the Philippines through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to further build capacity for disaster preparedness and response in the country.

The collaboration will involve boosting DSWD’s National Resource Operation Centre (NROC) in Pasay City and its regional warehouses through the prepositioning of relief items and operational support equipment, as well as the development and implementation of government training programs with emphasis on disaster response, logistics and supply chain management.

“The Philippines experiences more than 20 typhoons a year, including Typhoon Hagupit, locally known as Ruby, which hit us this December,” said Praveen Agrawal, WFP Philippines Representative and Country Director. “These natural calamities continue to threaten the food security in the country which is why WFP remains strongly committed to work alongside the Government in its disaster preparedness and response initiatives.”

“Strengthening DSWD’s response hubs is a step towards a more prepared Philippines so we can better reach affected people with food assistance. We look forward to this strategic partnership with the Philippine Government,” Agrawal added.

"WFP has long been our partner in providing assistance to survivors of calamities,"

DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman added. "This partnership strengthens our existing logistic and relief delivery capacities, and will surely improve our immediate response to any disaster."

WFP also has future plans with DSWD and the Office of the Civil Defense to build disaster response centers in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Each disaster response centre will consist of two buildings built and funded by WFP. The first building will be used for packing and storing family food packs while the second building will house search and rescue equipment. The centers will initially be managed by WFP and will be handed over to the Philippine Government after a two-year period. - Rappler.com

KUALA LUMPUR: The use of satellite technology in the pre- and post-disaster management process is equally important as doing so during the disaster, said National Space Agency (Angkasa) director-general Dr Noordin Ahmad (pix).

In a recent interview with theSun, he said at present the whole disaster management operation is under the purview of the National Security Council of the Prime Minister's Department.

"We have engaged them on how best to use and promote the use of satellite technology in mitigating disaster. One way will be to use satellite images in the pre- and post disaster process," he added.

Doing so in the pre-disaster process would help the federal government and local authorities better understand the type, trend and extent of the disaster, and provide sufficient time for the mitigation methods to be put in place before a disaster occurs, he said.

"It will greatly minimise the repair costs due to damages from a disaster and ensure the emergency relief centre is easily accessible to the locals and the relief aid response team," he added.

Dr Noordin pointed out that by comparing the images taken during and after a disaster plays a vital role in the development planning process for an area.

"The images can act as a guide for the authorities to determine whether or not any building or infrastructure should be constructed in the area should it be a possible disaster prone area," he said.

As the cost of constructing and maintaining a satellite was exorbitant, he said it was important for Malaysia to collaborate with other countries or space agencies.
Currently, Angkasa through programmes like the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-Spider) and Sentinel Asia can get satellite disaster images when a disaster happens in Malaysia.

UN-Spider is an open network system that provides space-based solutions to support disaster management activities while Sentinel Asia is a disaster management support system in the Asia Pacific region.

"We do not have to pay for the satellite disaster images we obtain from UN-Spider and Sentinel Asia," he said.