Philippines Red Cross shares lessons on faster disaster response at Dubai conference

Dubai: When disaster strikes, the first people to respond may not be those sitting in a command centre. They may be volunteers in a village, community leaders who know the area, or local teams already trained to act.

For the Philippine Red Cross, putting those people in a position to make decisions has become an important part of responding to disasters.

That has been one of the key lessons shared by Philippine Red Cross secretary general Dr. Gwendolyn Pang at the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development (DIHAD) Conference and Exhibition, held at Dubai World Trade Centre from August 24 to 26.

“The Philippines is always the headline when it comes to disasters. You name it, we have it; whatever disaster it is that you have in mind,” remarked Pang in her opening statement as an invited panelist at the discussion, “The Turning Point for Leadership in Times of Change.”

The discussion has brought together Pang, Dr. Manal Taryam of Noor Dubai Foundation, Mohamed Al Shareef of Operation Chivalrous Knight 3, and engineer Salama Mohammed Alfalasi of Dubai Police Young Leaders Council. It has been moderated by Dr. Michael Kohler.

The panel has examined how leadership in humanitarian organisations is changing as the nature of crises evolves.

Trust over control

For Pang, one of the most important changes has been a shift from a culture of control to a culture of trust. That means giving local community leaders not only responsibilities, but also the confidence and authority to make decisions.

“In a country like the Philippines, we have ranked the no. 1 riskiest country for four years now. We cannot do everything by ourselves, neither the government, nor any single organisation,” shared Pang.

Instead, the Philippine Red Cross has worked to share authority among its chapters and branches and with community members on the ground.

Pang has noted that decentralising decision-making allows Philippine Red Cross chapters and community leaders to use their knowledge of the local context and the needs of affected communities to make sound and timely judgements.

Volunteers in every village

The need for local action has been important in the Philippines because of its geography.

“We are divided by bodies of water. Geographically, it’s so challenging to respond,” exclaimed Pang.

The Philippine Red Cross has responded by building a network of volunteers in villages through its Red Cross 143 programme. The idea has been to put basic safety and response capabilities closer to the people who may need them most.

“It’s really putting safety in the hands of people on the ground because we cannot be there for them at the height of an emergency.”

Putting people on the ground in a position to respond has required more than simply having volunteers available.

“We also share the vision, responsibility, and authority to them so in the event of a major crisis, they can actually decide and do what is best for the community, from the training we have conducted to them.”

Rather than waiting for help to arrive and instructions to come from elsewhere, trained community members can begin responding based on the circumstances they are seeing themselves.

Funding quick action

Moreover, Pang has participated in a second panel at DIHAD, “Acting Before Crises: Financing the World’s Fastest Humanitarian Response,” where she highlighted the role of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Disaster Response Emergency Fund (IFRC-DREF).

The DREF is an IFRC pooled fund that supports locally led humanitarian response and anticipatory action requiring direct, flexible, and urgent financial assistance. According to Pang, the fund has become a steady resource during crises for the Philippine Red Cross.

“With the DREF, it enabled us to mobilise our volunteers and deploy them for first-aid ambulant service assessment providing evacuation, giving hot meals, and healthcare to evacuees, and including rescue efforts,” stated Pang.

Beyond emergency aid

Pang has bared that the flexibility of DREF also enables local communities to support livelihood and cash assistance programmes.

These initiatives have been aimed at helping affected residents recover and improve their lives after a crisis, rather than limiting humanitarian assistance to immediate relief.

It has been another part of the shift towards locally led humanitarian action where communities are not simply waiting for assistance but are being given the resources and authority to play a more active role in their own response and recovery.

A first for the Philippines at DIHAD

Notably, it has been the first time the Philippines has taken part in DIHAD.

The annual event brings together leaders, policymakers, practitioners, innovators, volunteers, and organisations from across the humanitarian sector.

Held under the theme “Humanitarianism in Transition: Shaping the Future of Humanitarian Action,” DIHAD 2026 has underscored the need to shift towards a more collaborative model of global solidarity as crisis response, development, peacebuilding, and other humanitarian efforts evolve.

For the Philippine Red Cross, that transition is already being put into practice. The lesson Pang has brought to Dubai was not simply that disaster response needs more resources. It is that those resources, and the authority to use them, need to reach people close enough to the crisis to understand what is happening.