The people of the Philippines are no strangers to big disasters. This is the home of Mt Pinatubo, which in 1991 saw one of the largest volcanic eruptions this century and the evacuation of 1.5 million people from surrounding areas.

There has never been a disaster of this scale in Australia, but we have developed internationally recognised expertise in emergency management that has the Filipinos looking to us for assistance.

This week a group of senior emergency management officers from the Philippines are undertaking a short course in emergency management concepts and principles from staff at Charles Sturt University's (CSU) Bathurst Campus.

The AusAID funded project is the result of collaboration between CSU and the Asia Pacific Disaster Management Centre, which is based in Manila.

Project coordinator and CSU lecturer Ian Manock said while the context between emergency situations in Australia and the Philippines are quite different, the principles of effective emergency management have global applications.

"These people have an excellent knowledge of how to handle large scale disasters but have operated for many years under a centralised system.

"What we are teaching them is how to provide emergency management at the local level, empowering local communities to take control of their own situations, with support and backup from more central agencies," he said.

Emmanuel de Guzman is Director of Operations with the Philippines Office of Civil Defence, National Disaster Coordinating Council, and is responsible for the implementation of changes in emergency management coordination which have been taking place in the Philippines in recent years.

"We have always had a system of control for emergency management at the national, provincial, municipal and village level but what we are seeing in recent years is the increase in responsibility being given to provincial emergency management coordinators.

"The aim of undertaking programs such as this one at CSU is to strengthen our emergency management structure and allow local communities to take a more pro-active role in command coordination."

Sanny Jegillos, Director of Asia Operations with the Asia Pacific Disaster Management Centre, said this course is unique because it is providing customised training for provincial emergency managers and helping them to set the benchmarks in emergency management practice.

"We have always had to deal with large scale disasters like volcanoes and flooding but we are seeing an increasing number of man made disasters like oils spills and other hazards, which we are learning more about how to handle from Australian practice."

Mr Jegillos said the group has been very impressed by the professional volunteer network provided by agencies like the SES in Australia.

"Operations management is one of the big issues we have to address in the Philippines where there is no organisation to mobilise volunteer workers like in Australia. Legislation is the key to giving people closer to the ground the power to make the decisions and command control when it is needed."