OCD7 Regional Director and RDRRMC7 Chairperson Marlou Salazar (extreme right) presides over the council's meeting on recent flooding incidents in the region on August 8, 2022. (RGC/PIA7)
CEBU CITY, Cebu, August 9 (PIA) -- The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Region 7 (RDRRMC7) has urged the local government units (LGUs) in Cebu and other government agencies to formulate actions that will address the problems of flooding in Metro Cebu following the flooding incidents that occurred in various places in the province for the past few days.
On August 8, member agencies of the response cluster of RDRRMC7 convened in a meeting along with the personnel of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) of the three highly urbanized cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-lapu.
The council discussed the recent flooding incidents in Cebu, where member government agencies presented their recommendations on how to address the flooding and asked the LGUs to implement their respective flood control projects.
Member agencies of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Region 7 (RDRRMC7) gather for the meeting on the recent flooding incidents in Central Visayas on August 8, 2022. (RGC/PIA7 Cebu)
During the meeting, some member agencies raised their actions and suggestions.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources 7 encouraged all national government agencies (NGAs) and LGUs to put up a water sewerage treatment plan, while the Department of Education 7 pushed the LGUs to assist in the cleaning of school drainage canals.
The council was able to come up with several recommendations and other courses of action to address the flood problems in Cebu which could be adopted by the LGUs through collaboration with the NGAs.
The council recommended the conduct of updated flood mapping for disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) plan; the creation of the Metro Cebu River Management Board; the strict enforcement of RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act down to the household level; maintenance of the sewerage system; and the implementation of cistern system and drainage master plan.
RDRRMC7 also suggested to the LGUs that they hold drainage impact assessments for property developers and pass a "Green Building" Ordinance.
"We would like to encourage our LGUs here in Cebu ug sa mga ahensya sa gobyerno (and government agencies) to improve your response ani nga problema (in this problem). We need your support and cooperation sa pagsulbad aning problema sa baha, kinahanglan nga kita magkahiusa (in addressing the flooding, we need to work together). We need to have the right information for us to move towards the same path and direction as we solve these issues," said RDRRMC7 Chairperson and Office of Civil Defense 7 Regional Director Marlou Salazar. (RGC/PIA7)
