Geohazard mapping completed this year

MANILA, Philippines - Acting Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Eleazar P. Quinto said yesterday the national geohazard mapping project is on track, with only 10 percent of its target municipalities remaining to be assessed.

“I am very optimistic that the remaining municipalities for geohazard assessment will be completed until June this year, although the printing of the geohazard maps for distribution to local government units will hopefully be finished by the end of the year,” Quinto said.

As of December 2009, the MGB reported a total of 1,474 municipalities have been assessed, or 91 percent of the total target of 1,618 municipalities nationwide.

According to Quinto, the department has allotted some P60 million this year to ensure the project’s completion. He also said that priority will be given to areas within the Eastern Seaboard, considered most prone to typhoons.

“Specifically, we are targeting the remaining unmapped areas in the Eastern Seaboard such as portions of Isabela, Cagayan, Samar, Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental,” Quinto said, adding that geohazard mapping in other provinces within the Eastern Seaboard like the Surigao provinces, Aurora, Ilocos Norte and Davao del Sur has already been completed.