PDRRMC: 80% of Iloilo flood-prone

Up to 80 percent of Iloilo province may be prone to flooding, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) warned this week.

Iloilo PDRRMC executive officer Jerry Bionat said villages in mountainous areas are particularly likely to expect flooding when tropical cyclones come.

“We were surprised when tropical storm Quinta hit last year and flooded areas that were not prone to floods before,” Bionat told a local radio station, according to a report Tuesday on Iloilo-based The Daily Guardian.

Bionat said the flood-prone towns include:
First district: Guimbal, Igbaras, Tubungan, San Joaquin and Miag-ao.

Second district: Alimodian, Pavia, Sta. Barbara, New Lucena, Leganes and Zarraga.

Third district: Bingawan, Calinog, Lambunao, Pototan, Janiuay and Mina.

Fourth district: Dueñas, Dingle, Passi City, San Enrique, Barotac Nuevo and Dumangas.

Fifth district: Sara, Lemery, San Dionisio, Batad, Ajuy, Balasan and Estancia.

Bionat said the causes of flooding include:

• unbridled development;
• construction of subdivisions that obstruct natural waterways like rivers;
• deforestation, and
• "wanton" dumping of garbage in rivers.

Politics

The Daily Guardian report also quoted United Nations Development Program country director Toshihiro Tanaka urged local leaders to set aside politics and unite to make communities flood-resilient.

Speaking at the launch of Project ReBUILD, Tanaka urged local chief executives “to go beyond the boundaries of politics” to address the effects of climate change.

For her part, Climate Change Commission vice chairperson Mary Ann Lucille Sering said the CCC seeks to coordinate local and national government units.

“We will reduce the time the LGUs spent to seek funds from NGs and funding bodies,” she said.

However, Sering also said climate change adaptation is a long-term process compared to disaster preparedness, which is short-term.

Under Project ReBUILD (Resilience Capacity Building for Cities and Municipalities to Reduce Disaster Risks from Climate Change and Natural Hazards, Phase 1), Iloilo is one of the recipients of a $1.22-million aid grant to help communities covered by the Jalaur River basin.

Project ReBUILD will tap the local academe to study the vulnerabilities of these Jalaur River basin communities, which include those from the towns of Calinog, Lambunao, Passi City, Zarraga, Dumangas, and Pototan. - VVP, GMA News