Philippines: Disaster preparedness through the long-term sponsorship of partners

The island of Palawan is predominantly rural. In some cases, areas with long stretches of coastline and forested highlands are difficult to reach in the event of a hurricane or other disaster. Short distances for emergency responders as well as strong local aid structures are particularly important here. Therefore, since 2020, arche noVa supports the experienced Philippine organization "A Single Drop for Safe Water" (ASDSW) to be able to provide the inhabitants with the most necessary things quickly in case of natural disasters. This is all the more urgent as humanitarian emergencies are increasingly expected in the Philippines in the course of global warming.

On the one hand, arche noVa and ASDSW are connected by the focus on WASH, on the other hand, the organization is part of an alliance of national aid organizations, which extends over all parts of the island state.

Reaching people quickly in an emergency

The focus of the cooperation is not on an emergency or specific projects, but on a structure. Basic funding of 10,000 euros per year strengthens ASDSW as a whole, making it easier for the organization to apply for funding and to be quickly operational in an emergency. In case of major natural disasters, however, the silent cooperation can also turn into an active cooperation, in which relief measures are implemented jointly.
With the basic funding of arche noVa, ASDSW finances, among other things, three warehouses in which technical equipment for drinking water treatment is kept in case of disaster. The organization can also keep emergency plans and operation manuals up to date and continuously cooperate with local and national government structures and other aid organizations.

This approach has already paid off since the cooperation began. After typhoons Rai (2021 ) and Nalgae (2022), ASDSW was immediately able to quickly provide drinking water to local people, was able to rehabilitate spring catchments, pumps and filtration systems . In both cases, arche noVa increased the financial support with the help of donations by another 10,000 Euros for emergency measures.

Support for the development of emergency plans

The authorities of the largest city and, as it were, the administrative center of the island, Puerto Princesa, and the rural municipalities have limited pooled experience in dealing with emergencies.

In a previous project, ASDSW trained the decision-makers of the city of Puerto Princesa (disaster management authority) and the municipalities to reflect on and optimize their behavior in the event of a disaster. As a result, uniform action steps adapted to the respective municipality were created for use in the event of a disaster.

At the same time, the representatives of the municipalities were trained and accompanied in revising their existing emergency plans in accordance with national standards. Where no emergency plans existed, they were developed in order to be able to react faster and better to disasters. Here, too, the plans were drawn up or revised together with the decision-makers and adapted to the local conditions and situations of the municipalities.