Asian Crisis Management Conference to be held in Phl

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - More than 100 crisis managers and disaster experts from major cities in Asia will gather in the Philippines this week to tackle the region's disaster preparedness, a senior government official said today.

Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino said the country will host the 11th Asian Crisis Management Conference (ACMC) on July 10-11, coinciding with the country's National Disaster Consciousness Month in July.

With the theme "Recovering from a Devastating Disaster and Moving Forward: A Major Asian City's Rehabilitation and Recovery Efforts", the 11th ACMC will get together experts from 13 member- cities of the Asian Network of Major Cities21 (ANMC21).

ANMC21 is an organization of Asia's largest capital cities working together on issues such as urban planning, sustainability, and crisis management. Its members includes Bangkok, Delhi, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Metropolitan Manila, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo etc.

World Bank is also co-hosting the conference and will send its regional disaster managers to participate and present its report.

The MMDA chief said the Philippines' hosting of the 11th ACMC is timely, considering the country is among the Asian countries worst hit by disasters in 2012.