CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—In the light of tragedies and calamities that struck the Philippines within the past 4 months, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) of Pampanga had been busy laying out plans for preventing disaster-caused damage on the province.
According to Angie Blanco, PDRRM Officer, the capitol has been closely coordinating with the local government offices to pinpoint all the locations in Pampanga with the highest calamity risk.
“Pampanga is very diverse when it comes to location and its physical form. We have areas along the coastline, natural and man-made water streams and high altitude lands. It’s for the best that we expect the worst and make the province prepared,” says Blanco.
She added that most of the municipalities in Pampanga are very prone to flooding, landslides, liquefaction and storm surges.
It can be remembered that Governor Lilia Pineda asked the barangay officials in the province to submit a solid disaster plan.
Blanco said that disaster preparedness plans on the grass-root level is important but the preparation does not lie on the villages alone, but for the whole province.
PDRRMO aims to map all the families living in and along the “high-risk” areas.
“What we are trying to do is to know how many residents are going to be affected by future disasters, locate their evacuation areas and gather all the other resources that will help us prevent any further damage caused by the calamity.”
Currently, the capitol and the PDRRMO is working hand-in-hand with the municipality officials and engineers in planning the desiltation and declogging of the water ways projects.
Both parties are also working on a memorandum of agreement that will assign capitol and department counterparts to focus on the project.
Furthermore, 5% of the Provincial Government’s annual budget was allocated to the calamity fund that is being used in purchasing desilting equipments such as back hoes.
The provincial government and PDRRMO is targeting to start the desiltation and declogging by the second or third week of this month, Blanco stated.
“PDRRMO is trying its best to double its efforts and simultaneously do all these tasks to ensure the safety of our Cabalens. Our department will do the best we can so that the tragedy that happened in the Visayas Region will not happen to us,” the PDRRM officer reiterated.
By: BEA JEANNEL A. DELOS REYES
