DAVAO CITY — The Climate Change Commission (CCC) will sign on Monday a memorandum of understanding with the local government units of Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley to assess the vulnerability of the provinces badly battered when Typhoon Pablo made landfall on December 4, 2012.
“Primarily, it is a flood-impact modeling to determine what would be the impacts of extreme weather events brought about by changes in the climate,” Mary Ann Lucille Sering, vice-chair and executive director of CCC, said during the visit of the participants of the Mindanao Development Forum (MDF) in Compostela Valley.
Sering said the project is an extension of Project Twin Phoenix which is currently being implemented in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, the cities that got the brunt of Typhoon Sendong’s wrath in December 2011.
She said the project with Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley also intends to determine the risks and hazards of the provinces that were affected by Typhoon Pablo, considered as a Category Five super typhoon and the world’s deadliest disaster last year. At least a thousand persons were killed.
The MOU signing will be held Monday evening at the Marco Polo hotel.
The Project Twin Phoenix, with an initial budget of $1.5 million, is in partnership with Australian Government Overseas Aid Program and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It was conceptualized after Typhoon “Sendong” affected Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities.
With the signing of the memorandum between the CCC and the provinces, the latter will be trained on how to read the geo-hazard maps prepared by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
Earlier, Toshihiro Tanaka, country director of the United Nations Development Programme or UNDP, said there is also a need to put in place a plan aligned on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.“ “Disaster and climate risk assessments of their river basins needs to be undertaken to secure an inclusive, sustainable and resilient development,” he said.
source: http://www.mindanews.com