May 25, 2013 — Investing in disaster risk reduction is good for business as it will eventually save the company from suffering bigger losses, said SM Prime Holdings, Inc. president Hans T. Sy at a global forum organized by the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Sy represented the Private Sector Advisory Group (PSAG) in the Global Forum on Disaster Risk Reduction by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

The PSAG is attended by members by invitation-only and represents a wider private sector that works with UNISDR to address disaster risk reduction.

In the past decade, SM Prime has taken great strides in reducing the company’s environmental impact through sustainable designs of its malls, notably, SM Marikina, SM Masinag, SM Muntinlupa and also the SM Mall of Asia Complex.

“SM Prime takes steps to ensure the longevity of our establishments, and safeguard the communities in which we operate. Partly through prioritizing disaster resilience, SM Prime has managed to both increase profitability, and implement an aggressive expansion strategy,” Sy said.

He shared the experiences of SM Prime when tropical storms Ondoy and Pepeng hit in 2009. He highlighted SM City Marikina and SM City Muntinlupa, two of the company’s 47 malls which were located in high risk areas. “The safety of the communities, employees, customers, and the facility structure remain top priorities in all SM Prime developments. As I tell my design teams ever so frequently, ensuring safety is the only way I can sleep well,” Sy said.

In 2009, Typhoon Ondoy affected over 4.8 million people, caused over P11 billion in damages, and submerged nearly 50 percent of the Marikina area. Due to SM Prime’s investments in resilience, SM Marikina averted the loss of almost P1 billion from business sales alone, already giving back more than what had been spent for superior engineering and architecture.