The National El Niño team encouraged the public to join the preparations for the El Niño phenomenon.

The remark was made by Civil Defense Deputy Administrator for Operations Assistant Secretary Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV on Monday during the coordination meeting in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

“We encourage our people to join the national effort to prepare for the challenges of the El Niño phenomenon. Your cooperation, at the household level, will ensure that our preparations will be holistic and encompassing,” the official said.

Representatives from the various member-agencies, which focused on the development of the national action plan for El Niño, also attended the meeting as confirmed by the Presidential Communications Office.

The officials discussed the report on the actions to be taken by the various agencies to prepare for the projected negative impacts on food, health, water, and energy security, as well as public safety of the climate phenomenon.

“Discussions among government agencies continue to finalize and settle pressing concerns on El Niño preparations. We are continuously working together to ramp up our efforts and ensure that all areas of concern will be handled properly,” Asec Alejandro IV stated.

Using the climate projection of PAGASA, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) led the discussion by outlining the inter-agency coordination for the development of the national action plan for El Niño.

This was followed by presentations from the Department of Agriculture (DA), as the lead agency for food security, emphasized preventative, mitigation, and readiness measures for water management, crops, fisheries, and livestock, as well as cross-cutting operations.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DoH) reported on its ongoing efforts to ensure that health impacts are limited and managed, as well as that health services are available.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) highlighted their goals, which include integrating all water-related data, increasing water conservation, developing alternative water sources, and other initiatives.

While the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) reported continuous coordination with all the Local Government Units (LGUs) for the implementation of measures to regulate the operations they implemented.

Along with this, the Department of Energy (DOE) also detailed power predictions for the El Niño period, as well as the interventions and initiatives in place to minimize power outages.

According to PAGASA, the El Niño phenomenon is expected within the next couple of months with a higher chance of it persisting until the first quarter of 2024.

Written by Dana Ebreo, DZRH News Online Intern