The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) yesterday emphasized the need for Cebu province to have a suitability map, which is another important tool to create an action plan that is disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation sensitive plan.
A suitability map is different from other risks and disaster maps for Cebu because it will be more comprehensive and holistic and it will identify not only the land-use suitability of an area but also the intervention programs necessary in cases of calamities, said Baltazar Tribunalo Jr., PDRRMO head, in an interview after a forum yesterday in Cebu City.
The forum, which was organized by the PDRRMO, aims to level off the process towards the development of a suitability map that combines all important hazards of Cebu to lessen the effort of the local government unit (LGU) planners and decision-makers in consulting many hazard maps for planning.
“Actually, ang mga mapping nato ongoing man na siya, pero ang konsepto sa mapa sa una kadtong hazard maps, risk maps apil gihapon na siya,” he said.
“Ato lang hinuon ipahaom ang angayan nga interventions or kalihukan, be it economic, be it livelihood, or mga environmental programs (sa mapa).”
Tribunalo said the existing maps from Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), localized hazard maps, and maps from other authorized sources will be collated to come up with a comprehensive suitability map, with a target date of six to seven months.
During yesterday’s forum, representatives from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), which is one of PDRMMO’s partner in the proposed project, cited the suitability map for Leyte Island, which was published by the GIZ, as an example for this kind of map.
Tribunalo also said that the GIZ will provide the technical aspect of the program for free, and funds for the project will not only be taken from the PDRRMO but also from the development fund of the province.
He said P26 million budget for the creation of a local disaster risk management disaster preparedness plan will instead be allocated for the project.