CEBU CITY, Oct. 15 (PIA) -- The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB-7) warned Central Visayas residents as La Niña brings more rains, floods, and rain-induced landslides in vulnerable areas in their provinces, towns, and cities.
MGB-7 Director Armando Malicse urged officials of local government units (LGUs) to initiate preparedness measures for potential floods and landslides in areas identified to have moderate, high, and very high risks of incidences.
Malicse encouraged the relocation of residents living near riverbanks, coastlines, and foot of steep slopes as a pre-emptive measure to avoid casualties.
“In the last few weeks, we saw incessant rains in Cebu and other province in the region. We can expect more rains towards the end of the year and so we have to be ready,” Malicse said.
“We have available resources to help governors, mayors, and other local officials to check their localities of areas prone to floods and landslides. This will guide them as they implement their disaster preparedness plans,” he added.
LGUs can check the list of risky areas in their localities through the MGB Geohazard Maps that provide a 1:10,000 Scale Geohazard Mapping and Assessment to each province.
Earlier, MGB-7 Supervising Geologist Section Chief of the Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology Section, Geosciences Division Maria Elena Lupo, in a radio interview, also re-echoed the reminder to disaster risk reduction management offices of LGUs in the region to revisit and reexamine the Geological Hazard Maps in their areas and to take note of the areas that are declared as highly susceptible to flooding and landslides.
Though the national government has distributed geohazard maps in 2019, local government officials especially those who were elected for the first time in May 2019 are encouraged to get a copy of the updated copies of the hazard maps and to be familiar with it, as well as new DRRM members, LGU engineering department employees under the new admin, etc., said Lupo.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) issued in September an advisory of a 70 percent probability of La Niña occurrence in the coming months based on its recent climate monitoring and analyses.
With this, tropical cyclones are expected to occur, bringing above normal rainfall especially in eastern Philippines.
“We are now in the La Niña season. Let us all be careful, be alert when the rain comes and follow the government’s announcements so we can achieve zero casualties this year,” Malicse said. (jsme/PIA7/Cebu)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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