MANILA: Some 200 scientists, engineers and experts from academe met last Wednesday to discuss science-based rebuilding strategies on the rehabilitation programs being undertaken in areas that Super Typhoon Haiyan had devastated.
Hosting the forum at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati were the office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (PARR) and the Oscar M Lopez Center for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management Foundation Inc (OML Center).
Breje van Wesenbeeck, an expert advisor on nature-based flood risk mitigation, discussed nature-based flood defences.
Joseph D’Cruz, Asia-Pacific Environment advisor of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), represented the 35 UNDP energy and environment scientists comprising the UNDP’s Haiyan early recovery team.
The two foreign scientists provided the needed international perspective in building climate-resilient communities and ecosystems. Presidential assistant for rehabilitation and recovery Secretary Panfilo Lacson said evidence-based research will help his agency’s efforts.
“I strongly believe that a complete rehabilitation and recovery process will require not only strong governance but solid scientific foundation,” he said.
Rodel Lasco, OML Center scientific director, said the strategies and solutions formulated at the forum and workshops will be used to shape a science-based and evidence-based rehabilitation framework for Haiyan-affected communities.
“It is crucial that we integrate disaster risk reduction and management and climate change adaptation in our rebuilding efforts and development goals towards a resilient community and sustainable resources,” he said.
More than 6,300 Haiyan refugees who had fled to Metro Manila have received government assistance to return home.
Alice Bonoan, Department of Social Welfare and Development National Capital Region field office director, said 1,338 families or 6,378 individuals have expressed intention to return home through the DSWD’s Balik sa Bayan programme.
“Those who were assisted were the ones who signified their desire to go home, that’s why they were assisted,” she said.
The DSWD leads an inter-agency group offering a package of services to Haiyan survivors who have sought refuge in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Beneficiaries are given financial and transportation assistance and health services. They also receive “pabaon” packs containing relief goods, blankets, and mats; shelter kits with construction materials and basic carpentry tools; starter kits, and a mobile phone.
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the program aims to assist Haiyan survivors in their early recovery and reintegration into their communities.
Currently being processed for assistance are those temporarily housed in different facilities managed by the DSWD, local governments and non-government organizations.
The Philippine Star
