during the 2019 National Summit on MSME Disaster Resilience held Thursday at the Heritage Hotel in
Pasay City. (Photo by Marinell Gonzales-Rosit/PIA InfoComm)
QUEZON CITY, July 18 (PIA)—Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Executive Director Renato Solidum challenged business entrepreneurs to be victors, not victims of disasters and calamities.
He urged them to strengthen their efforts towards overcoming the challenges brought about by hazards and disasters.
In his message for the participants of the 209 National Summit on Strengthening MSME Disaster Resilience Thursday (July 18) held at the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City, Solidum advised them to learn and remember the lessons gained from the previous disasters.
He also encourage them to reinvent or reinnovate by using various technologies especially those used in disaster response and recovery.
“We can use various science and technology innovations available nowadays. There are better products, solutions and technologies that can be used to improve the response and recovery after disasters and calamities,” Solidum said.
In the same event, Department of Trade & Industry Usec. Zenaida Maglaya, co-chair of National MSME Resilience Core Group, cited the importance of promoting disaster resilience among the business sector.
Roadmap on Disaster Resilience 2019-2021 after commitment signing. (Photo by Marinell Gonzales-
Rosit/PIA InfoComm)
At the same time, she recalled their experiences in helping MSMEs go back to business after Typhoon Yolanda devastated the country in 2013 saying only 60 percent of those affected were able to go back to business despite DTI’s assistance extended to them.
“Development that is not risk-informed can never be sustainable. We hope that this gathering provides us an avenue for sharing our expertise and learning from the challenges and opportunities,” Maglaya said.
“Making small businesses disaster resilient is vital to our survival as a country during a crisis since they make up a huge part of our economy,” Maglaya added.
The summit was attended by over 200 enterprise leaders and key representatives from the government, humanitarian sector, and business sector who shared their best practices in strengthening MSME's disaster resilience and mapped out next steps in promoting enterprise resilience in the country.
Highlights of the summit include the soft launch of the MSME Guide to Disaster Resilience, a guidebook designed to aid MSMEs in understanding the basic concepts of disaster risk reduction and management and business continuity practices.
Gonzales-Rosit/PIA InfoComm)
The guide contain five major components such as: the importance of Disaster Preparedness for Small Businesses; Introduction to the Basic Concepts of Disaster Risk Reduction & Management; Preparing Your Business; Helping Business Recover; and Sample Toolkits on Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity Planning.
"Katatagan in a Box", a business continuity mobile application was also launched, a mobile app developed by the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) in partnership with the UPS Foundation.
Christopher Buono, UPS Philippines managing director, said the mobile app is a localized version of "Resilience in a Box", a business continuity planning toolkit developed by the UPS Foundation and the American Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
The app increases accessibility of information, education and communication (IEC) materials on disaster resilience. It also contains a digital version of the business continuity planning toolkit as well as other features.
Since the aim of the 2019 summit is to affirm the commitments of the different member-agencies and partners of the National MSME- RCG, the National MSME Roadmap on Disaster Resilience 2019-2021 was signed. (PIA InfoComm)
0 Comments