In November, Honorary Georgian Consul Thelmo Cunanan is organizing a Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Symposium in Georgia. Working together with Consul Cunanan in this project are two Georgian non-government organizations: the West Point Society of Georgia and the Atlantic Council of Georgia.

The objective of the symposium is to review the disaster response policies of Georgia and, if needed, provide solutions to improve and develop these policies. In this regard, Consul Cunanan is bringing a team of Philippine disaster management experts to Georgia, headed by Dr. Rodrigo Ong, a leading practitioner of DRM, with over 30 years’ experience in the field. Dr Ong regularly conducts seminars and trainings for Philippine local government units, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, and Philippine Coast Guard, to name a few.

The Filipinos will hold workshops in Tbilisi and Batumi, in cooperation with those cities’ local government units, to help policy makers and emergency response teams develop more practical and efficient DRM policies. The Philippines is one of the countries in the world with wide experience in disaster response and risk management. Because of its geographical location, the Philippines is routinely subjected to tropical hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and tsunamis, to name a few.