MANILA, Dec. 16 (PNA) — As part of its effort to disseminate information on different hazards and their corresponding impacts, the city government of Taguig on Monday presented the Multi-Hazard and Risk Maps to different stakeholders here like barangay officials, rescue personnel and disaster volunteers, among others.
Taguig mayor Lani Cayetano said the “Multi-Hazard and Risk Maps IEC Campaign” held Monday and Tuesday (December 16 and 17) at the Taguig City University Auditorium, is seen to further enrich the knowledge of the participants and improve preparedness and response to disasters, calamities and other hazards.
In particular, the undertaking will actively engage the city’s community leaders, planning officers as well as emergency and disaster responders to identify hazards-prone areas in their respective jurisdictions using the said maps during the workshop.
And from that knowledge, they will be able to integrate DRRM strategic actions in their respective barangays.
“It is indeed an honor for Taguig to be the pioneer of this important campaign. This will enable responsible parties to plan accordingly what to do before, during, and after a disaster to save lives and properties,” said Cayetano.
She added that in Taguig, the disaster preparedness is taken very seriously, and in fact before the city received the multi-hazard and risk maps, we already established a partnership with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid) for the BRACE Project to transfer informal settlers living in disaster risk areas in the city.
Cayetano added that the campaign is one of GMMA READY (Enhancing Greater Metro Manila Areas Institutional Capacities for Effective Disaster/Climate Risk Management towards Sustainable Development) and Risk Analysis Project’s (RAP) objectives to empower vulnerable communities against hazards like earthquake, flood, landslides, severe wind and liquefaction.
RAP is a component of the BRACE Project (Building Resistance and Awareness of Metro Manila Communities to Natural Disaster and Climate Change Impacts), which is designed to encourage appropriate preventive actions to avoid deaths, hardships and economic damage caused by natural disasters.
Meanwhile, GMMA READY is a project designed to decrease the vulnerability of the greater Metro Manila area, including contiguous provinces such as Laguna, Rizal, Cavite, and Bulacan to natural hazards, and increase its resilience in strengthening the institutional capacities of responsible parties.
“By presenting the hazard and risk maps to the public, we will create awareness on the areas most susceptible to each hazard,” the lady mayor said.
GMMA READY and RAP are projects led by the Office of Civil Defense – NDRRMC and partnered with government agencies under the Collective Strengthening of Community Awareness on Natural Disasters (CSCAND)-composed of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA); Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Australian Aid Program and Geoscience Australia. Other partners are Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
Taguig City, through Mayor Cauetano herself, received the multi-hazard and risk maps last October 17, 2013, the date when it was formally launched. (PNA)