Iloilo City – Regional Director Leo Van V. Juguan of MGB-6 said we must all brace ourselves for possible landslides and flooding with the onset of the rainy season and typhoons.
He said that areas which have been classified as highly and moderately susceptible for landslides in the geohazard assessment and mappingshould take precautionary measures at the coming of the rainy season. However, he said that typhoons come at any time of the year, so there is a need to be prepared all the time.
MGB-6 completed the rapid geohazards assessment and mapping on a scale of 1:50,000 of the whole Region 6 last year. Results of the assessment show the vulnerability of barangays for landslide and flooding.Results of the geohazard assessment in Region 6 showed that of the total 4,054 barangays, there are 564 barangays classified as highly susceptible, while 550 barangays are moderately susceptible to landslides in the six provinces of theregion.Areas classified as highly susceptible are those with presence of active faults, occurrence of recent landslides, presence of numerous and large tension cracks that would directly affect the community, presence of areas that are prone to landslide damming and have steep slopes.Areas with inactive and old landslides, presence of smaller tension cracks and moderate slope are classified as moderately susceptible to landslides
Of those assessed as highly susceptible barangays, 283 are in Iloilo; 185, Antique; Aklan, 30; Capiz, 30; Negros Occidental, 28; and Guimaras, 8In the province of Iloilo, highly susceptible barangays are the municipalities of Leon, Igbaras, San Joaquin, Miagao, Tubungan, Lambunao, Calinog, Alimodian, Concepcion, Janiuay, Carles, San Dionisio, Batad, Sara, Lemery, San Enrique, Maasin, Anilao, Barotac Viejo, Tigbauan, Guimbal, Bingawan, and Badiangan.
The municipalities listed with barangays as highly prone to landslide in Antique are San Remigio, Lauaan, Patnongon, Hamtic, Valderrama, Barbaza, Sibalom Tobias Fornier, Bugasong, Culasi, Anini-y,Pandan, Libertad, Tibiao, and Sebaste.Municipalities in Aklan that have barangays highly prone to landslides are Ibajay, Madalag, Tangalan, Nabas, Malinao, Banga, Makato, Buruanga, and Altavas. In Capiz, the municipalities of Tapaz, President Roxas, Pilar, Cuartero, Jamindan, Dumalag, Mambussao, and Dumarao have barangays highly prone to landslides.
In Negros Occidental, municipalities and cities with barangays highly prone to landslides are San Carlos, La Castellana, Calatrava, Salvador Benedict, Isabella, Monteverdi, Cadiz, Murcia, Cauayan, Silay, Candoni, Kabankalan, Ilog, and E.B. Magallona. Guimaras has barangays highly prone to landslides in the towns of Buenavista, Nueva Valencia, and Jordan.
Flooding in the region is also one of the problems during and after prolonged rainfall. Areas near bodies of water such as rivers, creeks, lakes, canals, former river channels have been mapped as highly susceptible to flooding.Director Juguan mentioned that information on geohazards is crucial in the government’s thrust on disaster management and mitigation to prevent the loss of lives and properties brought about by natural disasters.The MGB geohazards assessment team gave the barangays an advisory to let them know the classification of their areas in the landslide susceptibility rating. Geohazard assessment results andcopies of completed geohazard maps were also given to the LGUs.
RD Juguan said that in the first quarter of this year, DENR Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje ordered all the regional offices to reiterate the geohazards information given to the LGUs in Region 6. Letters were sent to all the city and municipal mayors giving them the list of barangays that are classified as high and moderate in the landslides susceptibility assessment.