On the sidelines of the 275th Anniversary of Cauayan City, the delegation from Rustavi City—the first Georgian local government delegation to the Philippines and Asia—led by Rustavi Council Deputy Chairman Gocha Shavadze and Honorary Georgian Consul Thelmo Cunanan Jr., and joined by Teona Galogra, Head of Rustavi Economics Department; Rustavi Councilors Merab Sulaberidze and Davit Skhirtladze; and Georgian Consulate Public Relations Director Melissa Dizon, inspected the different security and disaster-response services of the province.
The delegation first visited Cauayan City Hall, where they were shown around the different offices and given an orientation on the working dynamics of the city. This included an ocular inspection of the city’s closed-circuit TV (CCTV) operations room, from where officials, in partnership with the Philippine National Police, could monitor the traffic and security situation twenty-four hours a day. Cauayan has been the first of 144 Philippine cities to earn the distinction of being a “smart city” from the Department of Science and Technology because of its hi-tech infrastructure.
The Georgians were also given a briefing by the head of Cauayan City’s award-winning “Rescue 922” emergency response unit, which is one of the most capable in the Philippines and which maintains a stand-by team of almost thirty medical and emergency response specialists who are ready to engage the public at a moment’s notice.
Later, the Georgian delegation was also given a tour of the province’s impressive disaster response resources at the provincial capitol, courtesy of Isabela Governor Faustino Dy III. This included an inspection of the command center, weather monitoring systems, and emergency medical and rescue gear and vehicles. The province of Isabela was credited for being the first and farthest local government unit to deploy a medical and emergency response team to the province of Leyte that was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in November 2013.
Isabela province is often hit by tropical cyclones (typhoons), which make the area prone to flooding, landslides, and other disasters.
“It is truly very impressive what Cauayan City and the Province of Isabela have done in disaster preparedness. Georgia is not hit as often by calamities like the Philippines but as the flooding in Tbilisi in June this year shows, we are also vulnerable due to climate change,” said Mr. Shavadze. “I think we should all be prepared.”
The Georgian delegation, Consul Cunanan, Governor Dy, and other Philippine officials agreed to cooperate on the exchange of best practices in disaster preparedness.
In February 2016, Consul Cunanan is planning to hold a Philippine-led disaster seminar at Caucasus University in Tbilisi, in partnership with the Ministry of Defense and the city governments of Tbilisi and Rustavi.
