Region 8 cities tagged as disaster preparedness pilot areas

CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar, Sept. 27  -- The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has listed two cities in Eastern Visayas as pilot areas in raising decision-making capabilities of local government units in post-disaster preparedness.

The MGB has been conducting training workshops on understanding risk exposure maps in Catbalogan City in Samar and Ormoc City in Leyte.

The training is part of the information, education and communication campaign for the vulnerability and risk assessment, an ongoing activity of MGB’s national geohazard mapping and assessment program through the conduct of 1:50,000 scale and 1:10,000 scale flood and landslide susceptibility mapping for cities and towns.

The project now seeks the use of the 1:10,000 scale detailed flood and landslide maps for local governments in their respective land use and disaster contingency planning by evaluating the existing vulnerability conditions.

Typically, scale is expressed as a ratio such as 1:50,000 or 1:10,000. If one takes 1:50,000, this means that 1 centimeter on the map equals 50,000 centimeters (or 500 meters) on the ground. This means that the information contained in 500 meters is compacted into just one centimeter.

On Thursday, the MGB held training workshops in Catbalogan attended by personnel from the Philippine National Police, Philippine Army, and the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

“Results of this activity will be of critical importance in the planning, pre, and post disaster interventions,” MGB Geologist Rodrigo Jay Miralles said.

The MGB turned over to the city government various maps that show specific hazards in vulnerable communities.

Catbalogan Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan welcomed the project as it provides locals safer and more secured communities.

She said the maps produced by MGB is helpful to them, especially in disaster mitigation program, considering that the city’s downtown is not only flood-prone area, but susceptible to landslides as well.

“The information given in this training will help us strengthen our mitigation and prevention effort against all types of disasters and calamities,” Uy-Tan said.

The workshop and hazard map is also beneficial in implementing infrastructure projects and various programs since the plan is based on disaster risk.

In November 2011, a landslide occurred in the city’s mountain village, Bunuanon, killing a child. In December 2014, a mudslide buried houses and cars killing 23 people in Mercedes village. (RTA/PNA)