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http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2009/November/11-19-17.htm

 

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Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center 

With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i

 

 

PALAU WORKING ON NEW DISASTER PLAN 
Planners seek better assessment of vulnerability 

By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa 
KOROR (Palau Horizon, Nov. 18, 2009) - Palau is now working on a new disaster 
plan to replace the existing National Disaster Plan 1999 and to improve disaster risk 
management. 

The Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) is currently providing 
support to the National Emergency Management Office with regards to the drafting of 
the new plan. 

The new plan has been designated as the Palau National Disaster Risk Management 
Framework 2009. It is in its final draft form and will be presented to the National 
Emergency Committee before the end of the year. 

Mosese Sikivou, Manager of the Community Risk Programme for SOPAC said that 
the new disaster plan articulates institutional arrangements at national level to support 
improved disaster risk management. The new arrangements will hopefully provide 
Palau with better and more effective platform to address issues in relation to the 
vulnerability of Palau’s communities to hazards and disasters. 

Sikivou said the new institutional arrangements reflect the growing commitment 
stems in a large part from earlier commitments made in national development policies 
and as well as those that government has made at a regional level within the Pacific. 

National Emergency Management Office (NEMO) Coordinator Alonzo Kyota in an 
interview said that Palau is grateful to SOPAC for the support it has provided over the 
course of 2008 and 2009 in assisting firstly with the review of the Palau National 
Disaster Plan 1999 and then developing the draft of the new plan. 

SOPAC is now assisting NEMO to identify priorities under the new plan that can be 
implemented within a three-year timeframe. 

The National Emergency Committee under the chairmanship of Vice President Kerai 
Mariur appointed a special subcommittee to work with SOPAC to develop a new 
disaster plan. The subcommittee includes representatives from both government and 
non government organizations. 

 

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Representatives from NEMO, Office of the Attorney General, Bureau of Public 
Safety, Public Works, Foreign Affairs, Domestic Affairs, Red Cross, Environmental 
Quality Protection Board, Ministry of Health, airport and the Palau National 
Communication Corporation (PNCC) conducted a meeting last Thursday for the final 
drafting of the new plan. 

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