Hazard awareness

RELYING on their shared history and experiences, communities usually have their own indicators as to when nature appears to be threatening to deliver a blow. But we all know nature is fickle, climate patterns have been changing, and human activities have significantly altered the geography of many areas. In the last five years alone, major disasters have struck different parts of the country that claimed lives and caused damages, particularly flooding and landslides. In Pangasinan, Typhoon Pepeng in 2009 was the worst. Nowadays, instinctive gauges by the people in the communities no longer suffice to avoid casualties.

If there is anything good that has come out of these recent calamities, it is the heightened awareness on disaster-preparedness, particularly among local government units, and a more proactive stance in terms of planning and anticipating dangers to keep people out of harm’s way.

Disaster preparedness strategies by LGUs could be further improved now that so-called geohazard maps are readily available on the internet. Some of the websites that have GIS (geographic information system) maps are the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau (mgb.gov.ph/lhmp.aspx) under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and recently, the Philippine Information Agency (pia.gov.ph/news/gis/province.php?rid=1&id=4), also in tandem with the DENR. Both sites are still a work in progress with more detailed maps still to be completed and reference codes clearly indicated. But it’s one step further in the right direction towards mitigating losses during calamities and local leaders should take advantage of it.

Furthermore, these geohazard maps should be used for zoning and development planning. Permits for land development proposals and construction as well as infrastructure development must take into consideration the risks in particular areas.

July is National Disaster Consciousness Month. Let’s zoom in on the consciousness.

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Floods

BECAUSE annually it rains almost half of the year, it follows that floods also hit us every year.  That has been the sad case since time immemorial.

The reality is, we can’t stop the rains.  We can’t even control rainfall, nor manage it– completely, that is. The irony is, we can control, even stop, floods but we are not doing anything concrete towards that end. We are only good at watching them happen.

There is not a thing that man cannot do or even undo – if we only want it done, or even undone.

Question:  Have we had a President who had seriously thought of controlling, stopping, floods, which had become deadly through the passing of years? Sadly, none at all. No serious move from any of our past 14 or so Presidents had been done to put a complete end to the yearly curse that is floods.

Is P-Noy listening?

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