With the cooperation of lead coordinator United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP), lead trainer DHL Group, in-country advocatePhilippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), and the nationalcivil aviation regulator Civil Aviation Authority of thePhilippines (CAAP), the fourth Get Airports Ready for Disaster(GARD) Program in the Philippines was successfully completed atLaguindingan Airport from 25 to 27 July 2023.
The GARD Program is a global public-private partnership aimed atsupporting airports in planning for their role as logistical hubsin the event of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes,fires, and landslides, as well as integrating the airport's role innational emergency plans.
The GARD Program was first launched in the Philippines in 2013 atNinoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City, with thesecond and third workshops being held at Mactan-Cebu InternationalAirport (MCIA) in 2014 and at Clark International Airport (CRK) in2022.
“CAAP is very proud and grateful to have Laguindingan Airport bethe first CAAP airport to hold the workshop. CAAP has beencoordinating with DHL on this workshop since 2016. Now, more thanever, we see the ever-growing importance of strengthening ourairports' resilience to disasters. Our airports serve as gatewayscrucial to the delivery of people, goods, and services, especiallyduring emergencies and natural disasters. In the future, we hopethat exercises such as GARD can be echoed to other CAAP-operatedairports around the country as well,” said CAAP Director GeneralCaptain Manuel Antonio L. Tamayo.
