The United Nations (UN) is funding a mapping study of the country’s 27 provinces, among which are the most geologically hazardous like the six provinces of the highland Cordillera region.

BY ACE ALEGRE
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 31, September 9-15, 2007

BAGUIO CITY (246 kms north of Manila) – The United Nations (UN) is funding a mapping study of the country’s 27 provinces, among which are the most geologically hazardous like the six provinces of the highland Cordillera region.

The four-year comprehensive geological mapping plan, according to Office of Civil Defense (OCD) administrator Glen Rabonza, aims to mitigate effects when landslides and flooding occur.

Rabonza, spoke at the two-day national disaster management seminar for local chief executives from Northern and Central Luzon last week, together with Defense Secretary and National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) chairman Gilberto Teodoro.

Rabonza said the study funded by the UN with support from other international funding agencies like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union (EU) will build resiliency of communities affected by disasters.

The multi-hazard mapping, which started last year and ends on 2010, has a budget of US$4.3 million.

The mapping project came as good news for Cordillera officials after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) reported that Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province, all in the Cordillera region, are among the top 10 landslide-prone and flood-prone provinces in the country.

The same MGB report said that Benguet is the most affected province in the region with over 90 percent of its total land area being landslide-prone.

The Cordillera offices of the MGB has earlier furnished updated geo-hazard mapping to all local government units even as MGB director Engr. Neoman Dela Cruz has appealed to them to integrate the geo-hazard map into their zoning plans.

Last year, the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC) approved two resolutions encouraging 72 Cordillera towns to conduct geological inspections in all proposed building sites to avoid disasters in the future.

Reeling from the natural disasters that claimed thousands of lives in the past two decades, the RDC said the region is prone to geological hazards, thus, preventive measures must be instituted to protect lives and properties. Contributed to Bulatlat

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