Owners of different tourism establishments in Palawan are advised to incorporate disaster preparedness in their contingency plans.
Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Jeremias Alili, speaking before the recent Tourism Risk Reduction and Management Symposium on Thursday, said most of the tourist establishments in Palawan are in beach areas which are prone to storm surges and tsunami.
He said this framework will help them during worst-case scenarios particularly the tourist in the area.
“This will not only help the continuity of their businesses but also the safety of their guests and visitors, and also ensure the sustainability ng economic development noong lugar kung saan sila nandoon,” he pointed out.
Alili said there are two types of hazards such as human-induced which includes fire incident, and natural which are earthquake, storm surge and typhoon.
“Yung mga natural hazards pinaghahandaan natin ‘yun kasi hindi exempted ang ating mga tourism facilities [katulad] ng mga resorts na mga nasa islands na posibleng tamaan ng mga ganitong threats. Bago pa man mangyari ay mayroon na tayong inihandang actions. Hindi ‘yung nangyari and then bago pa tayo mag-iisip ng kung ano ang kailangang gawin,” he said.
Provincial Tourism officer Maribel Buñi also said all establishments, including the municipal tourism officers, should be well-equipped to be able to perform necessary responses during calamities or disasters.
She added that all tourism establishments should able to manage and mitigate risks through their disaster contingency plans.
“Basically we want to mainstream ‘yung risk reduction into the tourism plan or the other way around. We want to equip our municipal tourism officers to look into how the tourism can be affected in case may mga crisis or disaster na mangyayari considering that Palawan is prone or very vulnerable both to human-induced or natural-induced risks,” Buñi said.
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