DENR maps RP’s disaster hotspots

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has identified the country’s disaster hotspots through geohazard maps available online, DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said on Wednesday. Paje said the government’s geohazard mapping project, carried out by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) under the DENR, identifies flood- and landslide-prone areas in 1,618 municipalities in country. “It shows there (in the maps) which areas have high chances of soil erosion and which areas are low-lying and flood-prone," he said in a press conference on Wednesday.

He added that the geohazard maps have been uploaded on the MGB’s website so that Filipinos can check if they live on a danger zone. Local government units (LGUs), which have also been furnished with copies of geohazard maps of their respective areas, will now take charge in the relocation of residents living on disaster hotspots, according to Paje. [Do you live in a flood prone area? Find out using GMANews.TV's interactive flood map.] The DENR chief likewise said that the MGB will now begin producing more detailed maps that will identify hazardous zones down to the barangay level. “We aim to finish next year the densification of these maps, or the process of making these maps into bigger scales," he said. The geohazard mapping project has been in the works since 2006 but the identification of disaster-prone zones in the country became urgent only after tropical storm ‘Ondoy’ hit the country last year. Ondoy brought heavy flooding to Metro Manila and nearby provinces and claimed more than 400 lives in September last year. -- VVP, GMANews.TV