PH Embassy in Chile Explores Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Cooperation with Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada de Chile (SHOA)
PH Ambassador to Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat (third from left) and the rest of the Embassy team are given a tour of the Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada de Chile (SHOA) Valparaiso headquarter and facilities, including the highly important Operations Room of the Sistema Nacional de Alarma de Maremotos (SNAM). (Santiago PE photo)
SANTIAGO 13 June 2023 – Philippine Ambassador to Chile Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat visited the Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada de Chile (SHOA) Headquarters in Valparaiso on 01 June 2023 and met with Director of SHOA of the Chilean Navy, Rear Admiral Arturo Oxley Lizana, to learn more about SHOA’s best practices in disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM), as well as seismic and tsunami warning systems.
Rear Admiral Oxley provided the Embassy team with an overview of SHOA’s mandate, centered on providing technical assistance to the Chilean government on: (1) hydrography, (2) navigation, (3) nautical cartography, (4) nautical geography, (5) oceanography, (6) tsunami detection, (7) nautical astronomy, and (8) timekeeping (official time of Chile). Director Oxley also gave the Embassy team a tour of the facility, including the Operations Room of Chile’s National Tsunami Warning System or Sistema Nacional de Alarma de Maremotos (SNAM).
SHOA’s tsunami detection, protocols/methodologies, and response capacities are among the most advanced in the Americas, with systems built using Chilean expertise and technology. The PHL Embassy is in turn exploring possible cooperation and exchanges of best practices between SHOA and the Philippine’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), and possibly the Philippine Navy under the ambit of the 2015 PHL-CHL Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM).
The above areas of DRRM cooperation are envisioned to include, but will not be limited to: (1) sharing of early warning information on tsunamis and/or quakes, (2) good practices in disaster response, preparedness, and protocols, (3) effective community action on DRRM, and (4) sound practices and policies on disaster preparedness, early detection, and mitigation.
Joining Ambassador Balatbat and Rear Admiral Oxley were PHL First Secretary & Consul Dennis John C. Briones, SHOA Deputy Director Captain Carlos Zuñiga Araya, First Lieutenant Matias Sifon Andalaft (Chief of SHOA’s Department of Oceanography), and PHL Embassy Interpreter Julia Carolina Farias.
The PHL-CHL MOU on DRRM and the formulation of specific areas of cooperation between SHOA and Philippine authorities will also be discussed and advanced at the upcoming 6th PHL-CHL Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) in Manila in the second half of 2023. END
PH Ambassador to Chile Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat (lower left) with Director of SHOA of the Chilean Navy, Rear Admiral Arturo Oxley Lizana (right). (Santiago PE photo)
For more information, visit https://www.santiagope.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHinChile.