CEBU CITY -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources’s office in Central Visayas (DENR-7) has begun updating the Vulnerability Risk Assessment or the Hazard Exposure Maps for the region.
Al Emil Berador, chief geologist of DENR-7’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), said Tuesday the main purpose of updating the hazard exposure maps is to identify the risks that may be encountered by the population of a local government unit (LGU).
“Our main purpose for this is to know the risks that the people, including infrastructures, may face in times of natural calamities,” Berador told his audience at the Association of Government Information Officers-Philippine Information Agency (AGIO-PIA 7) forum here.
He said the hazard exposure maps, which can determine the percentage of the population in a barangay exposed to a particular type of hazard, for instance a landslide, can help the LGUs with their Risk Reduction Management Plans because they can already identify the areas which are vulnerable to subsidence hazards, or areas where there are underlying limestones.
“We have already updated the mapping for some LGUs -- one in Guihulngan City (Negros Oriental), one in Siquijor, and three municipalities in Bohol. This week, we are going to update the maps of three more LGUs in Bohol,” Berador said.
He added they are prioritizing LGUs with high vulnerabilities but will “ultimately update all hazard exposure maps in Central Visayas because they are very useful to LGUs.”
The DENR will also use the information provided by the newly-launched Metro Cebu Earthquake Model Atlas of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology as reference for their mapping, said Berada. (With Bebie Jane Casipong/PNA)
