Published
August 4, 2019, 10:00 PM By Myrna M. Velasco
The Department of
Energy (DOE) is reinforcing and at the same time harmonizing the contingency
plans of industry players and stakeholders so they can be efficiently prepped
for the strike of disasters that may topple energy installations in the
country.
Prior to the wallop of
another earthquake last week, the energy department had been at the process of
coordinating with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) on updating
the National Energy Contingency Plan – partly concretized through a two-day
workshop that they had last month.
As targeted, both the
public and private sectors are being engaged into crafting “a harmonized
multi-sectoral preparedness and response measure for the energy sector.”
When it comes to the
strike of typhoons, the Philippines is considerably in the “Pacific jinx” and
it had also been frequently visited by earthquakes in the past months – and in
these knock of natural calamities, the energy facilities were among those seen
very high risk.
On that scale of
vulnerability, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi asserted that “the DOE is
committed to ensure the continuous delivery of energy to the people even in
times of disaster.”
The energy chief emphasized
“we are constantly working with our partners from both the public and private
sectors to establish a strong culture of readiness, prompt response operations
as well as enhance our rebuilding capacities.”
Cusi prodded key
stakeholders in the energy sector to be “always ready given that a disaster may
strike anywhere at any time.”
In the collaboration
with PDRF, the energy department indicated that they are planning to develop a
“Resiliency Compliance Plan” – that shall highlight the four primary aspects of
energy security and preparedness – entailing the need for: systems;
stockpiling; response and recovery; and strengthening of infrastructure.
Primarily, the DOE and
PDRF highlighted the importance of “coordination and cross-sectoral cooperation
in establishing resiliency measures.”
Butch Meily, president
of PDRF stressed “we are stronger when we work together, that’s why a
public-private sector partnership to strengthen resilience is so important.”
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