Post-‘Urduja’ recovery plan for Biliran to be prepared

TACLOBAN CITY, Dec. 27  -- The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) is eyeing to complete the Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (RDANA) for Biliran next month to be able to map out a post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation plan.

National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director Bonifacio Uy told Philippine News Agency on Wednesday that the RDANA led by OCD was just completed in eight Biliran towns.

Biliran is still reeling from the damage suffered after Tropical Storm Urduja hit the province more than a week ago.

RDANA is a disaster response tool used immediately during the early and critical onset of a disaster.

It aims to determine the immediate relief and response requirements, and identifies the magnitude of a disaster by focusing on the general impact on the society and the people’s coping capacity.

“The next step is to conduct a write shop focused on consolidating the programs, projects and activities and policy recommendations as well as potential risks or bottlenecks to implementation,” said Uy also the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) vice chairperson for disaster rehabilitation and recovery.

The plan, which will outline the rebuilding strategy, will be published within the first quarter of 2018. It comprise the investment program with specific cost estimates per year of implementation.

The RDRRMC is tasked to come up with the recovery and rehabilitation plan, which will be patterned after Super Typhoon Yolanda that pummeled Leyte and Samar provinces and Typhoon Nona that ravaged Northern Samar.

It will be divided into four sectors - infrastructure, social, productive, and cross-sectoral.

“Preparing this plan is one of the top priorities of our office since this will be the basis of the government’s response to help Biliran recover and build back better from Tropical Storm Urduja,” Uy added.

The planning will gather RDRRMC key officials from OCD, NEDA, Biliran provincial government, Department of Science and Technology, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and Department Social Welfare and Development.

The Biliran provincial disaster risk reduction and management council reported that landslides and flooding brought by the tropical storm has killed 42 people and 14 others missing.

The weather disturbance has displaced 22,535 families or 90,000 persons in Biliran province alone.

Biliran is one of the country's smallest provinces with a land area of 536 square kilometers and a population of 171,612 as of 2015.

Formerly a sub-province of Leyte, it became an independent province in 1992. (SQM/PNA)