PAGADIAN CITY – Geo-hazard map is very important; it shall not be taken as joke.
Thus declared Zamboanga del Sur Governor Antonio H. Cerilles during the hazard maps turnover ceremony, orientation and briefing conducted by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) at Alindahaw Hotel here over the weekend.
Governor Cerilles, the event’s guest speaker, said: “With the said map we can easily identify areas in the country which are susceptible and vulnerable to various geologic hazards. It will also help provide information to stakeholders in order to mitigate the impact of disasters such as landslide, flood, etc.”
Cerilles urged the local government units (LGUs) to be serious about urban planning to address disaster-related problems in their respective areas.
He also challenged the participants to do their fundamental duties to save lives of the people.
“Some of you are working for the LGUs and for national government agencies (NGAs). We have one common obligation, that is the presence of the government to save lives,” said Cerilles to the municipal mayors, municipal disaster risk reduction and management officers, and municipal planning development coordinators.
“The presence of government [requires] doing our job. If we are just going to look at it and just be in ‘Ningas cogon’, many people would suffer from disasters and we could not save their lives,” Cerilles explained.
National Disaster Risk Reduction Services chief Lenie Duran-Alegre said the flood hazard and rain-induced landslide hazard maps are distributed to the LGUs.
Alegre said hazard maps are not only for planning but for prevention, mitigation and response purposes.
“In the event the disaster will happen in your place, you can use these maps for recovery and rehabilitation,” Alegre explained.
Alegre said the natural disasters that are happening in our country today are becoming bigger and frightening, affecting many regions.
“The supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ that hit the Visayas region had caused unimaginable damage to thousands of lives and millions worth of properties,” Alegre said.
Alegre encouraged the participants to unite and help each other saying that “no local government can cope up with its own when natural disasters strike.” (PIA9)
