MGB staff doing geohazard assessment. Contributed photo
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has strengthened its National Geohazard Assessment and Mapping Program (NGAMP) to continuously identify areas in Central Luzon that are susceptible to geologic hazards and protect communities from disasters.
MGB regional director Alilo Ensomo Jr. said NGAMP is part of the country’s disaster risk reduction and management program and centers on rain-induced landslides, floods, flashfloods, ground subsidence or sinking, and other forms of slope instabilities that are not directly induced by earthquakes or volcanic activities.
“In Central Luzon, MGB was able to complete its 1:10,000 scale geohazard maps in 2014, and has been conducting vulnerability and risk assessment and updating of geohazard maps to identify potential areas which may be prone to natural disasters,” he said.
The agency also conducted coastal geohazard mapping in the eastern and western seaboards of the region and completed the assessment of 39 coastal municipalities in 2018.
MGB likewise undertook a detailed assessment of highly vulnerable coastal barangays in Botolan and San Narciso towns in Zambales.
MGB also expanded its NGAMP by including Karst Subsidence and Hazard Assessment in areas underlain by limestone, such as Candelaria in Zambales, San Miguel and Doña Remedios Trinidad in Bulacan, and General Tinio in Nueva Ecija. – Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu/PIA-3
