Iloilo City – Regional Director Leo Van V. Juguan of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau Region-6 (MGB-6) cautions those who are living in areas that are highly prone to landslides and flooding to take precautionary measures now that typhoon Dodong has entered the Philippine area of responsibility as of 5:00 a.m. today based on the PAG-ASA Weather Advisory.
Typhoon Dodong is expected to affect the eastern section of Visayas for the next 24 hours, bringing heavy and at times intense rainfall within the 150-200 km radius of the Typhoon.
Director Juguan said that heavy rainfall induces landslides in highly-vulnerable areas that can be located in the geohazard maps. Floods also occurs when there is too rainwater in the low-lying areas.
“We have issued advisories to the barangays warning them of the vulnerability of their areas, and this should serve as their basis in taking the appropriate preparation and precautionary measures such as evacuation to avoid loss of life,” Juguan said.
“Areas that are highly vulnerable to landslides and flooding in the six province of Region 6 have been mapped and we have been conducting information dissemination activities in the various local government units presenting to them the results of the geohazard assessment and mapping of their areas that started in 2006 up to 2011 on a scale of 1:50,000. A detailed geohazard mapping on a scale of 1:10,000 has also been done from 2012-2014 and we are currently completing the digitization of the 1:10,000 geohazard maps for dissemination to the LGUs as well,” said Juguan.
“Once again, we urge our local government units to take precautionary measures in the face of this recent typhoon. Historically, we are aware that whenever a typhoon affects our country, it does not even matter if it makes a landfall but the wind and rain that it brings with it basically triggers landslides and flooding in geohazard-prone areas,” concluded Juguan. (LAA/MGB-6)