City’s FEWS program to be tested during monsoon season
All expected outputs have been achieved and the Summer Capital is now anchoring its own Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) that has brought new infrastructure to the city supported by a forward-looking institutional framework built on partnerships with key stakeholders.
This was the conclusion reached during the FEWS final meeting held virtually, Nov. 29, at the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) conducted by representatives of the Asean Australia Smart Cities Trust Fund (AASCTF), Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (ADFAT), and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the city’s program partners.
The meeting was led by City Mayor’s Office Chief of Staff and CDRRM Council action officer Engr. Felipe Puzon and CDRRMO head Antonette Anaban, CDRRMC secretariat chief.
As to the next steps still needed to be undertaken, FEWS has to undergo proper testing before being launched publicly, to perform troubleshooting and quality assurance, and to test dissemination channels internally.
Full-scale testing is needed for the newly-established team in Baguio to ‘put their knowledge into practice’ and assess what is needed going forward, it was agreed during the meeting.
Since building capacities has been at the core of the project, obtained knowledge and capacities must be maintained and improved through testing of the FEWS during the upcoming monsoon season.
Earlier, Anaban said the city’s push to establish its own FEWS program was initiated in August 2020 and aims to improve community disaster preparedness and awareness and to ensure ownership to enhance urban resilience.
The program, Anaban explained, is part of the city government’s current Smart City initiatives such as the Smart City Command Center; digital innovations to speed up the delivery of government service; the Smart City twinning program with Perth, Australia; and the establishment of the National Government Data Center and Digital Transformation Hub.
Its key focus areas are enhanced capacity-building and on-the-job training; climate change assessment as input to modeling and design for enhancing city resilience; and gender transformative approach for strengthened development, application, and replication of the city’s FEWS.
The program is implemented under the AASCTF supported by the ADFAT and managed by the ADB, Anaban added. – Gaby B. Keith
