Senate forum hosts talks on making disaster risk insurance a part of country's disaster risk reduction policy

Some of the country's top public officials and legislators, along with academics, economic and foreign policy experts have met to discuss the feasibility of proposed changes to national policy, regulatory, and legal framework regarding disaster risk reduction (DRR), and to signify the importance of an overall "paradigm shift" in the country's handling of its disaster programs in a series of talks hosted by the Senate today, January 21.

The "Strengthening Disaster Risk Insurance in the Philippines" was organized by Senator Loren Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, in partnership with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). The event featured a technical discussion on bolstering the Philippines' disaster risk insurance, followed by a high level forum involving input from some of the leaders and main actors of the country's disaster risk reduction and climate change agenda.

Along with Senator Legarda, those who had participated in the high level forum include Senate President Franklin Drilon; Jerry Velasquez, chief of advocacy and outreach for UNISDR; Rowan Douglas, chief executive officer of Capital Science & Policy Practice, Willis Group; and Ernst Rauch, the head of the corporate climate centre of Munich Re, a reinsurance company.

At the event, the speakers weighed in on the merits and possibility of strengthening disaster risk insurance - a relatively new approach to preventing debilitating economic losses from disaster damages and currently implemented in countries such as Mexico and Turkey- in the Philippines, which has taken considerable losses following a wave of natural and man-made disasters last year.

During her speech, Senator Legarda stressed that "it is more economical and efficient to make our communities resilient to disasters, than to be held hostage by the exhausting and costly cycle of rebuilding our communities every time a typhoon, storm surge, or an earthquake hits our communities."

The senator pointed out that the National Economic and Development Authority, in the recently released Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda (RAY) plan, estimated total damages and losses from typhoon Haiyan at Php571 billion or USD 12.9 billion.

Rather than scrambling resources on reactive efforts such as post-disaster relief efforts, Legarda said that instead, "we must build resilience so that there will be lesser need for rescue, relief and rehabilitation, and improve our capability to get back on our feet on our own immediately."

Saying that disaster risk reduction "is just social justice in action" Legarda also said that future DRR strategies in the country should sustain the livelihood and economic activity of those areas affected by disasters - which could be potentially aid by effective disaster risk financing and insurance.

"Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation must be closely linked to development--the kind of development that does not create new risks and promotes resilient investments," she said, Meanwhile, Senate President Franklin Drilon welcomed the talks as "timely", saying that the country can no longer be reliant in its old viewpoint regarding risk reduction, and changes in the national policy regarding disaster and risk preparation "are definitely in order."

"Given that our country is frequently visited by typhoons, we must take concrete steps to manage weather and geological related risks, minimize the vulnerability of people and investments, and improve the preparedness capacity of institutions and communities," Drilon said.

Given these developments, the Senate leader expressed confidence that the country would be able to arrive at a policy which will enable it to protect itself from the threat posed by disasters.

"With the nation's interest in mind, we can surely come up with a system that can adequately respond to what we face today in terms of risk reduction to our country," he said.