The severe impact of climate change to natural disasters in present times has remarkably changed the level of awareness and preparedness of both the people particularly in disaster-prone areas and government from low to high levels.
This was the assessment made by Liza Mazo, regional chief of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) – 11.
“Before, during rainy season, people usually opted to sleep to their whim because of cold weather. But now, it’s different. People in times of monsoon get up and check the level of water in their surroundings. The level of awareness and preparedness of the people now is very high,” Mazo said at a press conference Wednesday at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Davao office in time for the National Disaster Consciousness Month observance.
She cited the Seal of Disaster Preparedness project (SDP) of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) which is a proof of local government’s resilience to improve further the level of preparedness of the local government units (LGUs) in times of calamities.
SDP aims to recognize and provide incentives to local government performance in institutionalizing disaster preparedness and to assess performance gaps, link gaps to policy or program intervention and monitor improvements on disaster preparedness.
Mazo believes that planning and more strategies to take toward disaster prevention and mitigation are the aspects that are needed now.
She cited Davao Region as high risk area for flash floods and landslides.
Government for its part equally showed an improved preparedness towards disaster with its P1.6-billion budget allocation for Project Noah, a nationwide disaster mitigation system of the Department of Science and Technology that marks government’s readiness towards disaster.
DOST regional director Anthony Sales said Project Noah or the National Operational Assessment of Hazards and Risks, is designed to enable government to address the serious challenges brought by extreme hazard events.
Under the project, DOST installed telemetric system or automatic weather stations and water level monitoring sensor devices in the country’s 18 major river basins. It has installed 12 water level monitoring sensor devices this year. DOST targets to install 600 sensors by 2013.
Sales said DOST has installed Doppler radars in Baguio, Subic and Hinatuan that will cover Region 11 and another three radars will be installed this year to include Tampakan, South Cotabato. DOS under Noah also installed about 100 automated rain gauges last year.
Project Noah will have seven components that will address major needs in various disaster situations. These include Hydromet sensors development, DREAM-Lidar, FloodNET, Hazards information media, Landslide hazards mapping, Doppler system development, and Storm surge inundation mapping. [PNA]
