Iloilo City – The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Regional Office VI is conducting an information, education, and communication activity in the municipalities of Sebaste and Culasi, Antique on March 20 and 21, 2023, respectively.
A technical team from MGB VI will present the results of the vulnerability and risk assessment (VRA) they conducted in 2020.
Ms. Mae Magarzo, chief of the MGB VI Geosciences Division said the VRA is an offshoot of the detailed geohazard assessment and mapping conducted by MGB nationwide in 2011-2014. The VRA is an assessment of the degree of vulnerability and potential risks of an area given the exposure of the three elements – population, built-up areas, and roads – to rain-induced landslides and floods. It also updates the geohazard maps and produces risk exposure maps as output.
MGB VI aims to educate further the local government on how to use the risk exposure maps and help them in formulating the climate and disaster risk assessment (CDRA). Initially, the municipalities have already included the data generated from the MGB geohazard maps in the municipal CDRAs. The VRA will further enhance disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) plans. The direction is the inclusion of the DRRM plans in the comprehensive land use plans (CLUPs) of the LGUs, Magarzo added.
MGB VI continuously conducts the IEC to present the VRA results in the LGUs with completed VRAs. We invite the municipal officials, unit heads, municipal environment and natural resources official (MENRO), representatives from senior citizens, schools, the PNP, sangguniang bayan, and the liga president representing the barangays, said Ms. Adeline Torreda, supervising geologist. (MGB VI)