Panel #2. Implementation of IFMS THE IFMS MEETING #4 13-14 January 2016 New Orleans, USA ESPERANZA O. CAYANAN, Ph.D. President, Philippine Meteorological Society For a developing country like Philippines which is ranked 2nd in the World Risk Index due to Climate Change, the implementation and strengthening of the IFMS is of great importance. WHY? The sharing of knowledge, ideas, experiences and resources, including assistance in getting data and outputs of numerical models from other National Meteorological Services, will be of great help in preparing to reduce and manage the impacts of climate change IFMS also will serve as a venue for us to share and learn from our numerous experiences on natural disasters specifically typhoons and floods. 20 Tropical Cyclones/Year Total No. of tropical cyclones : 1,641 (WNP) and 1,154 or 70% (PAR) (Data used: JMA Data set) TROPICAL STORM WASHI – December 2-6, 2011 DAMAGE: PhP15.553B DEATH:1268 TYPHOON BOPHA – December 2-6, 2012 DAMAGE: PHP36.949B DEATH:1067 SUPER TYPHOON HAIYAN - November 6-9, 2013 DAMAGES: PhP 89.6B DEATH: 6,300 TYPHOON HAGUPIT – December 4-10, 2014 Death – 18 Damages – PhP5.09B (US$108M) Samarnews.com TYPHOON KOPPU – October16-21, 2015 DAMAGE - PHP 14.392B DEATH: 48 TYPHOON MELOR – December12-17, 2015 DAMAGES: PHP 6.455B DEATH: 42 IFMS made a good start in 2009, laying down the foundation of a good international organization of meteorological societies. The concern now is the implementation and sustainability. HOW? • We need to create a governing body and a willing and able Leader. Volunteers are most welcome • Along with this are resources: physical and financial. But, let us take advantage of the advance technology: twitter, facebook, skype, video teleconferncing, etc. The Philippine Meteorological Society was established in 1952, but it was dormant or inactive for many years due to so many reasons and the major one is the absence of a strong and vigilant Leader and supportive and active board members. But here we are now, trying our best to grow… www.phmetsoc.org The same will happen to IFMS if we will not move. But with Messrs.Ahluwalia, Seitter, MacDonald and all who are here, we see a bright future for IFMS. The KEY to SUCCESS is…. ACTION WITH COOPERATION & UNITY!.