Theme 2: Local Wisdom, Risk Resilience and Adaptation
Henry AFABLE (co-author)
Title of Paper: “Local Government Disaster Management and Response in Maydolong, Eastern Samar: From Preparedness to Recovery”
Henry Afable is on his second term as the municipal mayor of Maydolong, Eastern Samar. Prior to this, he served as the Provincial Planning and Development Officer of the provincial government of Eastern Samar for ___ years. During his term, the municipal government of Maydolong was awarded a Seal of Good Housekeeping in 2011. Under his leadership and prior disaster preparedness planning throughout the municipality, Maydolong had zero-casualty during Typhoon Yolanda. Email: lgu_maydolong@gmail.com
Wendy CLAVANO PhD
Title of Paper: “Rainfall hazard and flood risk in the Cagayan River watershed: Understanding volume, intensity and accumulation to reduce disaster risk”
Wendy Clavano is a research scientist working with the Institute of Environmental Science for Social Change. Her current work involves looking at rainfall as a trigger for hydrometeorological disasters and how an understanding of changing patterns and climate effects that affect natural hazards can inform local planning and environmental management as well as reduce risk. Wendy is primarily a remote sensing scientist and returns to ESSC after a PhD at Cornell University and further training in snow and ice research with the University of Alberta and the University of Canterbury. Email: wrclavano@gmail.com
Taka Nurdiana GANI (co-author)
Title of Paper: “Local Wisdom in DRR and Peace Building Project Implementation”
Taka Nurdiana Gani is currently the Project Coordinator of Befriend: Urban Asylum Seekers Project of Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Indonesia. Before serving as the National Program Officer of JRS Indonesia from 2008 to 2013, he has been working with the organization in other projects since 2003 as: peace building consultant for using Living Values Education Program in JRS Indonesia’s Peacebuilding Program using puppetry film media and puppets in 2008; field Leader in Kesui-Molucca and Yogyakarta in 2006; and, project officer for Education & Peacebuilding in Seram Island, Molluca for education relief assistance for internally displaced persons, mediating for reconciliation process, conducting workshop on Living Values Education (part of Peacebuilding activities) for networks in 2003. Email: takagani@jrs.or.id
Sabine HENRY PhD (co-author)
Title of Paper: “Benefits of international migrations for socio-ecological resilience of rural households in the home country”
The research line of Professor Sabine Henry (Geography, University of Namur, Belgium) is the interaction between environment and migration at the household or individual level. In West Africa, she provided one of the rare empirical evidences on the effects of drought on migration. In Ecuador, she focuses on the environmental benefits of the international migration for the home country. In the Philippines, she tries to provide an in-depth understanding of the links between migration, vulnerability, land use and water management. Sabine Henry was a member of the Steering committee of the Population and Environment Research Network (2008-2011) and more recently, she became a member of the scientific panel on the Impact of Internal Migration in Developing Countries of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. Email: sabine.henry@unamur.be
Jose Andres F. IGNACIO
Title of Paper: “Assessing the efficacy of social vulnerability measurements through the impacts of disasters”
Andres has been interested in environmental work since he finished his Bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the Ateneo de Manila University. In the 90’s he obtained an MSc degree in Water Resources Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and in 2001 he received a diplôme d’études approfondies in Agronomy and Bioengineering (major in geomatics and remote sensing) from the Université catholique de Louvain. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Geography from the University of Namur which is focused on assessing social vulnerability to climate change extremes using census data. His interests revolve around the convergence and the interplay between human and physical systems and the challenges that ensue in relation to management. He is currently the Director for Planning at the ESSC and lives in Malaybalay City with his extraordinary wife, Ching, and his four lovely kids, Miguel, Paolo, Marielle, and Alexa. Email: andresignacio@essc.org.ph
Joseph LABRADOR
Title of Paper: “A method on village-level Disaster Risk Assessment: Empowering Communities towards Resilience Building”
Joseph Labrador is a research coordinator at the Institute of Environmental Science and Social Change (ESSC) for Disaster Risk Resilience Program in Asia, focusing on community-based disaster risk assessment and assessment of safe relocation sites for post disaster victims in Mindanao and other regions of the Philippines. He is a candidate for MSc in Environmental Science and Technology at Mindanao University of Science and Technology, Cagayan de Oro, Philippines. Email: josephlabrador@essc.org.ph
Villa Mae LIBUTAQUE (co-author)
Title of Paper: “Strengthening Community-led Shelter Initiatives and Local Governance to Address Housing Needs of Informal Settler Families”
Villa Mae “Vhal” Lubitaque has been working as a community architect for urban poor community associations that are members of the Homeless Peoples Federation Philippines, Inc (HPFPI) and its network federations. She is the National Coordinator of Technical Assistance Movement for People and Environment, Inc. (TAMPEI), a group of young professionals (mostly architects) providing technical assistance to HPFPI and its NGO partner, Philippine Action for Community‐led Shelter Initiative, Inc. (PACSII). TAMPEI is also an active member of the Community Architects Network (CAN), a regional network of community architects, planners and young professionals in 17 countries in Asia, which is currently implementing city-wide upgrading and mapping of informal settlers in key cities in the Philippines. Email: vhal_drew27@yahoo.com
Dexter S. LO
Title of Paper: “Even without the Storm: the XU DRRM Story”
Dexter S. Lo is the Founding Director of the Xavier University Engineering Resource Center (XU ERC). He teaches in the Civil Engineering Department and in the Master of Engineering Program. He also serves as lecturer on Disaster Risk Management in the Dr. J. P. Rizal School of Medicine and in the Southeast Asia Rural Social Leadership Institute (SEARSOLIN). He is currently the Coordinator of the XU DRRM Program.
Prof Dex is an active member of various professional organizations serving as: Region-10 Chair for the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines; Member of the Board of Directors for the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (Mis.Or.-CDO Chapter); Volunteer and National Committee Member of the Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness Strategies Task Force; and Member of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance, among others. He has also been appointed as Member of the Regional Land Use Committee of the Regional Development Council for Region-10. He also represents Xavier University in the Regional, Provincial, and City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils.
His engagements include: active participation to the Network of Urban Future in Southeast Asia (Forum); Technical Coordinator for the Clean Air for Smaller Cities Projects (Cagayan de Oro City– Xavier University); Project Coordinator for area and resource mapping, and engineering designs of appropriate rain-shelter and irrigation technologies for farmers in Bukidnon and Claveria (Philippines); Technical Consultant of Project Empowering; and Regional Coordinator for the Bantay Lansangan (Road Watch) Project for multi- stakeholder partnership on good governance through roads management. Recently, he has served as Resource Person for the Philippine Cities and Climate Change Adaptation Project of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and United Nations Human Settlements Programme (Habitat). Email: dlo@xu.edu.ph
Emmanuel SAMBALE (co-author)
Title of Paper: “Participatory mapping and LGU decision support tools for Disaster Risk Reduction”
Emmanuel “Maning” Sambale is a Geomatics Associate of Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC) in Manila. He supports various mapping research of the institute in the areas of capacity building, forest cover and disaster risk reduction. He is also an active community member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation and OpenStreetMap Philippines. Email: emmanuelsambale@essc.org.ph