IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York
Abstract
The case study discusses the instance of COVID-19 in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines, a medium-sized highly-urbanized city in a developing country, and analyses the immediate impacts, challenges and way forward for the city that had significant infrastructural gaps prior to the pandemic, especially in the health system. The study notes that the hazard has triggered a large-scale impact on socio-economic, environmental, and political systems, such as immediate stress on health infrastructures, business closures and economic crisis. The case study suggests prevention, mitigation and preparedness measures undertaken, such as available legislation for proactive risk management, and adaptive social protection programs. The case study suggests various measures undertaken at local and national scales for emergency management and post-disaster recovery, such as the provision of city isolation units to quarantine COVID suspects, donation of RT-PCR machines, vaccine drives and information dissemination. The case study further discusses the key challenges in risk management, such as the failure of the monitoring and evaluation system concerning COVID-19 and a lack of risk perception concerning health hazards. The case study concludes by recommending practices such as risk-informed planning and addressing capacity constraints, for the effective management of the risk.
Doctor Itchon is a physician with a Master’s degree in Medical Science from the University of Hong Kong. She is working as Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine Xavier University, where she teaches Epidemiology and Research Methods. Concurrently, she is also the Director of the Doctor Jose P Rizal Center for Global Health, an outreach unit of the School of Medicine, Xavier University. She also works with the Northern Mindanao Medical Center, the regional hospital of Region 10 in the Philippines, as the Chairman of the Research Ethics Board.
Dexter S. Lo is the Founding Director of the XU Engineering Resource Center, the research and social development arm of the College of Engineering in Xavier University. He currently serves as the Director for Institutional Societal Engagement, overseeing eight specialized centers in Xavier University which are engaged in urban development, disasters and climate resilience, renewable energy, ridge-river-reef conservation, food security, public health to name just a few areas. He holds a graduate degree in Civil Engineering, major in Structural Engineering. He is also a member of the distinguished Experts Pool of the National Resilience Council. ;
Jefferson Ramos Vallente Jr. is a professional Environmental Planner and Civil Engineer. He finished his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a graduate degree in Environmental Engineering from Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan. Since 2014 he is a faculty member of the Civil Engineering Department of the same university and concurrently since 2015 the Program Coordinator for Disaster Risk, Environment and Management at the XU Engineering Resource Center. For his work in Resilience, he currently serves as member of the distinguished Experts Pool of the National Resilience Council in the Philippines.
9:00 am - 10:30 am
Friday 16th June, 2023