GENERAL SANTOS CITY (December 11, 2013) – Coming back from a relief operation for typhoon Yolanda victims in Eastern Visayas with Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquaio last Tuesday (December 3), City Mayor Ronnel Rivera confirmed that he will strengthen the disaster management response of the city.
According to City Councilor Dominador Lagare III and City Administrator Atty. Arnel Zapatos, Rivera has already instructed them to review disaster ordinances of the city to make it more responsive to modern times.
Currently, GenSan has two ordinances on disaster management; one is Ordinance No.01 Series of 2013 which pertains to the pre-emptive evacuation in case of disasters and the other one is Ordinance No.03 Series of 2011 which is the creation of City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Committee (CDRRMC).
Councilor Lagare said that they are now studying the ordinances in order to strengthen them in relation to what they have seen and experienced when they visited disaster-stricken Eastern Visayas.
“We are all taken aback from what we have experienced; almost no single thing was left standing after Yolanda battered those areas,” Lagare said.
“It was then that Mayor Rivera convened us to make drastic plans and strategies for the city’s disaster response because we know that we should not take disasters lightly,” Lagare added.
Atty. Zapatos said that they will be using the geo-hazard mapping that was done by the French Development Agency (FDA) as a baseline for identifying disaster prone areas in the city.
He disclosed that on December 10 the city was set to launch a free emergency hotline that can be utilized 24/7 in times of any threats and disasters.
Atty. Zapatos also mentioned that a climate change summit will be held to highlight the steps on how to mitigate the effects of weather conditions as a contributing factor in disasters.
“The current administration is serious on these matters; we can’t elude the possibilities of the impending natural calamities but at least, we can prepare earlier to lessen the loss of lives,” Zapatos said. (GENSAN INFO OFFICE/Ian John Lagare)
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