Sunday, December 16, 2012

Use Geohazard Maps to Avoid Another Pablo - Legarda



In light of the devastation wrought by Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) on Visayas and Mindanao last week, Senator Loren Legarda advocated a nationwide information campaign on geohazard maps.

"Based on the latest statistics released by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, 906 have died and 900 more remain missing, while we have incurred about P15 billion worth of damages due to Typhoon Pablo. These would have been avoided if our local government units and all our citizens had knowledge of geohazard maps," she said.

Legarda, UN Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, said that everyone must have knowledge of their geographical location, and whether they are at high risk or not.

During the briefing called by the Committee on Climate Change on the use and implementation of the geohazard maps, the Senator stressed that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources should not only distribute these maps, but also, and more importantly, educate LGUs on how to read the map and how it will help them in their disaster risk reduction and management efforts.

"Am I living on a landslide area? Am I living in a flood-prone area? Filipinos in every barangay in the country need to know this information far before any typhoon signals are raised. Coupled with early warning signals at least seven days before any typhoon arrives, we should be able to radically minimize the casualties," Legarda detailed.
  
"No mayor, barangay captain, or kagawad will put their constituents at risk by relocating them to danger zones. However, due to the lack of information, many have died because the relocation sites themselves are geohazard areas. We should plan our cities and municipalities accordingly," she remarked.

"Disasters should not happen before we begin to take action. We should arm our local government officials with the right tools to ensure that our nation is always prepared and resilient to disasters," Legarda concluded.

5 comments:

Han Lapuz said...

Loren is right, our local govt officials should be prepared... sila din kasi ang kakailanganin natin kung sakaling may sakuna nanaman na dumating.

Asyong Salonpas said...

importante ang geo-hazard maps, para nga naman malaman kung saang area ang hindi delikadong tayuan ng bahay o tirahan..dapat ganayan talaga..

K said...

Yeah i agree with Loren Legarda, Geo-hazard maps will be helpful specially on selecting areas to put and build a house.Mas maigi na ang handa ;)

Shantel said...

"No mayor, barangay captain, or kagawad will put their constituents at risk by relocating them to danger zones. " tama po yan mam loren legardam kaay po mas ok po na magkaroon ng geo hazard maps para naman po hindi na maulit ang ang nangyaring tahedya.

Tsikago bols said...

nakakatakot ang nagnyari sa mindanao at visayas dahil sa bagyong pablo.buti na lang at ginagawan ng paraan ni senator legarda ang bagay na yun para hindi na maulit. ayos!