Bureau of Foreign Affairs Director Isaac Soaladaob said during the opening of the first workshop to review the 1999 national disaster plan that mitigation of disasters is important because for fragile countries and economies such as Palau there is a high degree of risk or susceptibility.
“We do not have the infrastructure and the resources for speedy recovery from disasters. Indeed, we must depend on a large extent on our donors for this,”Soaladaob said.“We need to invest out time and resources into measures that will help us to minimize, limit or avoid the impact of disaster,”he added.Representatives from Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission and some personnel from various government agencies in Palau conducted a review of the 1999 National Disaster Plan last week.A number of issues were discussed during the workshop.The workshop aims to improve or strengthen the 1999 National Disaster Plan.Palau has enjoyed technical advice and support through SOPAC’s technical programme areas for over the past few years.Palau has received advice on coastal processes and integrated water resources management, training in GIS and remote sensing.The country has also received training in different aspects of disaster management through SOPAC with the assistance of the Asia Foundation Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance.Soaladaob said Palau has received support along three major key result areas: Sustainable development of coastal zones in particular through identifying alternative sources of aggregates; Improved planning practices installed for safe and adequate water supplies and sanitation systems and Implement comprehensive hazard and risk management tools within the framework of an integrated, holistic approach for sustainable development.Soaladaob said the assistance for the review of Palau’s National Disaster Plan was linked to the third area.
