Duterte seeks Israel help in improving PH disaster response 

President Rodrigo Duterte meets with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the Official Residence of the President in Jerusalem on September 4, 2018. MALACAÑANG PHOTO

JERUSALEM – President Rodrigo Duterte cited the need to improve disaster response in the Philippines as the country is often exposed to natural disaster and terror attacks.

Duterte, together with some of his Cabinet officials, witnessed a disaster response simulation at the Magen David Adom (MDA) here on Tuesday.

The President hailed how Israel’s disaster team conducted a “very efficient” rescue operations.

“You got it right. The rescue was punctual and I would say precise, the way you handled it. Of course it could have been a product of several practices, but it shows that you are very efficient,” he said in a brief speech after the disaster response simulation.

Duterte is optimistic that Israel will help the Philippines improve its disaster response capabilities.

“There’s a lot of terror attacks going on, not only here but all over the world and my country is no exception.  We just had about two explosions in one of the provinces in Mindanao. One day and the day after there was also these two explosions, and we expect more,” he said.

“And I’m sure that your government, Israel government would only be willing to help us,” he added.

Duterte touted Davao City’s Emergency 911, which he pioneered during his term as a city mayor, but acknowledged that several improvements were needed for the Philippines to have an effective disaster response system

“We have a similar thing like that in my city, but it needs a lot of improvement. Of course, the way you handled the response was very important. And I think that we have to improve on that,” he said.

“We have the electronics. It was done by an American company. It’s good but I said we need more transportation and we need more men with experience to respond the way that I’ve seen here. Very good. I would rate it very good,” he added. /cbb