Philippines Will Now Host Third ASEAN Regional Collaborative Drill On Disaster Management
ASEAN – The third host for the ASEAN Collaboration Drill project is the Philippines in line with the preparation of a massive earthquake in Manila.
The Department of Health (DOH) noted that it is vital for the Philippines to improve its collaboration with other ASEAN countries in disaster risk management in order to strengthen cooperation and save more lives.
The Third Regional Collaborative Drill (RCD) is part of the project on enhancing the the ASEAN Regional Capacity on Disaster Health Management (ARCH), which is in lieu with the ASEAN Declaration on Disaster Health Management.
According to Manila Bulletin, it has the goal to strengthen the overall regional response during disasters, especially on coordination and collaboration between emergency medical teams (EMTs) and team management related to the response.
The DOH said that this will benefit the Philippines in order to enhance the interagency collaboration and coordination in both at the national and international response operation activities. The hosting was also in lieu with the preparation to respond to a possible 7.2 magnitude earthquake or also known as “The Big One” which will be in Metro Manila.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that this is also in line with the Philippine’s commitment as a member in accordance to with “FOURmula One Plus”, where responsiveness is a priority especially during environmental health threats, hazards, and disasters.
Based on the report, Doque further added that the Philippines recognizes that coordination saves lives, thus, it’s a need to improve coordination between countries, among local responders, and that of civil and military sectors, citing that Philippines has several experiences on disaster, ranking third among the 171 countries in terms of disaster risk.
Meanwhile, the first two drills were held in Thailand on June 2017, and Malaysia on March 2018, respectively.
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