MindanaoToday.com | 1,390 barangays prone to landslides in Normin
By: Uriel Quilinguing
Sixty-nine percent or 1,390 of the 2,022 barangays in Northern Mindanao are vulnerable to landslides, flooding and rain-induced debris flow once the volume of rainfall goes beyond its threshold.
This was made public on Wednesday, July 17, by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Regional Office 10 (DENR-MGB 10) when a regional geohazard map was posted online a day after a Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas forum.
On Friday, July 12, the Regional Disaster Risk Reducation and Management Council which the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Region 10 chairs reported that 14 landslide incidents occured in Bukidnon due to intense rains that was triggered by the Southwest Monsoon weather system.
Twenty-three barangays in four towns and two cities in Bukidnon and two others in Lanao del Norte, were flooded compelling over 7,000 residents to seek temporary shelters for safety.
The DENR-MGB post stated that the geohazard map imaging used the 50-millimeter-per-hour rainfall threshold to indicate areas that are vulnerable to rainfall-related hazards.
“All local government units should ensure that all evacuation centers are safe from landslides, flood and debris fow,” a portion of the Facebook post reads, and advised disaster risk-reduction and management offices to take measures that could minimize the adverse impact of heavy rainfall on the populace, on public and private infrastructures, and on the economy.
The DENR-MBG 10 listed the 1,390 villages that are prone to landslides and these are in Bukidnon 294, Camiguin 13, Lanao del Norte 372, Misamis Occidental 474, and Misamis Oriental 237.
GEOHAZARD MAPS
In the forum, geologist Osin Sinsuat Jr. of DENR-MGB 10, said the region’s geohazard maps undergo continuing revisions since 2015 and that the latest municipalities to have been updated were Baroy of Lanao del Norte, Talakag of Bukidnon, and Claveria, Misamis Oriental.
Sinsuat said it takes time to revise and update geohazard maps because they only have three personnel tasked to assist 98 provincial, city, and municipalities in Northern Mindanao and they have limited funds for this . These, he said, are basis in the formulation of comprehensive land-use plans.
Forester Henry Adornado, the regional executive director of DENR 10, said they have been coordinating with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional and district offices in the region once new roads are proposed to be opened.
Adornado said there have been instances when they would advise DPWH not to proceed with the construction, or to divert the road so as to avoid the hazards in highly vulnerable areas that could cause landslides and flooding, including those that would pass through declared sanctuaries and protected areas.
LOCAL INITIATIVES
Also on Wednesday, July 17, in a Meet the Press forum at SM Downtown Premier in Cagayan de Oro, Nick Jabagat who heads the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department in Cagayan de Oro, said they have identitied 26 of the 80 barangays as landslide-prone.
Jabagat said that geohazard map of the DENR-MGB that was released to them in 2018 was done in 2015 and it does not provide details at the sitio level, including the levels of vulnerability.
To address these, the CDRRMD came up its own City Environment Disastrer Risk Assessment (CEDRA) taking into the account the land-use plans of every barangay where details at sitio level are provided.
He said they have been capacitating the barangays by institutionalizing Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices, equipped with trained responders, adequate and appropriate equipment, and monitor the optimal utilization of their calamity funds.
Meanwhile, Armen Cuenca who heads the City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (CLENRO), said landslide incidents occur due to human activities that disturb the environment. These, he said, include the opening of new roads and widening, land conversions, and improper disposal of solid wastes that often result to clogging of canals and creeks.
Both Jabagat and Cuenca said Cagayan de Oro serve as catch-basin of the consequencies created by human activities upstream, since rivers and excess rainfall flow downstream to the city from Baungon, Libona, Manolo Fortich, and Talakag towns of Bukidnon.
They said they now include the municipalities of Opol and Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental in whatever plans their respective offices formulate in anticipation of the metropolitization of Cagayan de Oro which is calendared to start next year. (30)
###