Implementing the DRMMP in Metro Manila - Pacific Disaster Center

Round-Table Discussion on MEGA-Indexprovides qualitative measures of DRM based on predefinedbenchmarks. MEGA-Index has been conceived to serve asone of the tools to institutionalize DRM in government, anobjective of Metro Manila’s DRMMP.One use of MEGA-Index is as a communication tool. Itcommunicates the degree of risk the city faces due to itsexposure to seismic hazards. As such, MEGA-Index expressesavailable scientific information on urban seismic risk and DRMpractices in a digested but uncomplicated manner, facilitatingthe comprehension of seismic risk for government officialsand policy makers.As a risk monitoring tool, MEGA-Index also fortifiesthe process of institutionalizing DRR by enabling a localgovernment unit measure the effectiveness of its DRMpolicies, programs, and plans in the past and present andencourage local stakeholders to discuss more appropriateDRR options to improve current DRM performance basedBox 8. Objectives of the Round-TableDiscussionAs part of the involvement of EMI in the Globaland Local Agenda for Megacities of theUNDP-ProVention Consortium partnership,EMI and its 3cd Program international andlocal partner institutions held this roundtableto achieve the following aims:1. Present the results of analysis on theUSRi for Metro Manila and the DRMi forMetro Manila and the three partner cities ofQuezon, Marikina and Makati; and2. Elicit intellectual and practical inputs fromlocal government offi cials, local experts,practitioners, and other stakeholders onhow to build ownership of MEGA-Indexand promote the process of adaptationand institutionalization of the use of the riskindices.on the results of the indicators. This jumpstarts the necessary process of engagingthe government officials, decision makers, planners, and personnel in benchmarkingand monitoring the city’s DRM performances. It thus also becomes as an effectivemechanism to place DRR in the collective consciousness and mainstream DRR in allaspects of government operations.Metro Manila is the first megacity where the MEGA-Index methodology hasbeen applied. The pilot application of the tool is a means to further facilitate theimplementation of Metro Manila’s DRMMP.On 14 March 2006, the indicators concept and its methodological approach wereintroduced to a group of Metro Manila stakeholders. Preliminary data were collectedby requesting the participants to individually fill out a set of standardized forms forUSRi and DRMi.On 22 May 2006, the “First Seismic Risk Reduction and Risk Management IndicatorsWorkshop” in Metro Manila was conducted. Liliana Carreño, one of the authors ofthe methodology from the University of Catalonia, presented to a large multi-sectoralgroup of stakeholders the methodological approach and preliminary results of theDRMi for the entire Metro Manila region. In the workshop session, separate groupsof participants provided valuable information to construct the DRMi for the cities12