THE OFFICE of the Civil Defense (OCD) XI revealed that the documentation and completion of budgetary requirements for national flooding and landslide dialogue are in the works.
OCD XI regional chief Ednar Dayanghirang said a nationwide dialogue will tackle disaster resilience, primarily to mitigate flooding and the effects of landslides. A regional dialogue in February on flooding was postponed due to some changes in scope.
So, the central office recommended conducting it at a national level instead.
“I wanted to focus on landslide first, but they [the central office] wanted to do it simultaneously with flooding. Day 1 will discuss the former and day 2 for the latter,” Dayanghirang told the media on March 18.
The dialogue will be a multisectoral approach with about 300 expected participants from field experts, government line agencies, the private sector, civil society, and academe/ institutions.
The talks are expected to happen in April since downloading resources takes time.
Severe flooding remains a challenge for the whole region as observed in the provinces of Davao de Oro and Davao del Norte from the impact of the shear line weather phenomenon that triggered non-stop rains in January and the trough of low-pressure area through February.
The estimated cost of damage to infrastructure in DDO and DavNor amounted to more than P27 million and affected over 600K individuals.
The official added mitigation to the effects of landslides will also be discussed in the dialogue, to reduce loss of lives and property and not be caught in an unending cycle of rescue and relocation.
The landslide in Masara, Davao de Oro on February 6 claimed more than 90 lives. This, was even after Masara was already declared a “No Build Zone” in September 2008 after a landslide in the same area affected 279 families or 1,216 individuals, and claimed 24 lives.
The OCD XI reported Masara already recovering, however, affected residents are sheltered in a tent city in Quasi Parish, Elizalde, Maco, as identification of the permanent relocation site is still undergoing safety assessment.
