National Emergency Committee (NEC) added two more members, bringing total members to 30. Executive Order 457 signed by President Surangel Whipps Jr. included in the membership of the NEC, Koror State Government and Palau National Aviation Administration.
The Executive Order 457 included Koror State citing that it “is an important stakeholder in coordinating timely responses and communicating with the private sector business community and residents in Koror State.”
Palau National Aviation Administration was added on the NEC as well, noting that it “provides the expertise needed to facilitate aviation support, air traffic management and coordination with outside agencies such as U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and International Civil Aviation Organization.”
One of the main mandate of NEC is to take “command, control and coordinate operation for any nationally declared disaster or emergency, determine national action plans for disaster response, prioritize and allocate resource support to the Incident Command Post.” Other key mandates include implementing and monitoring National Disaster Risk Management Framework and providing policy oversight for disaster management.
In order to quickly respond to any disaster, NEC’s membership consists of representatives from ministries, bureaus, divisions and agencies that have capacity to implement the mandate of NEC such as Bureau of Aviation and Governors Association. Other non-governmental organizations with membership in NEC are Palau Chamber of Commerce and Palau Red Cross Society.