The Mines and Geosciences Bureau Regional Office No. XIII conducted an Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Campaign on Vulnerability and Risk Assessment (VRA) to four (4) municipalities in the Province of Surigao del Norte on October 24 to 27, 2023.
The recipient municipalities of the four-day IEC-VRA campaign were Tubod, Placer, Malimono, and San Francisco. The objective of the IEC-VRA campaign is to provide additional technical information on Risk Exposure to the Local Government Units (LGUs) for risk-sensitive land-use, development, and disaster risk reduction and management plans and programs.
The said IEC-VRA campaigns were attended by the Municipal Disaster and Risk Reduction and Management (MDRRM) Council of the LGUs headed by their respective Municipal Mayors who were represented during the activity by the MDRRM Officer and the Municipal Planning and Development Officer. The participants were welcomed by Mr. Noel G. Lumague, Officer-in-Charge of the Geosciences Division of MGB Regional Office No. XIII.
At the IEC-VRA campaign, the main discussions centered on the following topics:
- Introduction to the MGB’s National Geohazard Assessment Program;
- Introduction to Vulnerability and Risk Assessment (Risk Exposure Assessment);
- Production of Risk Exposure Maps; and
- Understanding Risk Exposure Maps.
These presentations were based on the results of the VRA activity conducted in these municipalities by MGB Regional Office No. XI (Davao Region) in 2019. An open forum was allotted after all presentations to cater to queries, observations, and remarks from the participants. There was also a workshop given to the participants and a video presentation on the Mainstreaming of the Gender and Development to the VRA Project. The LGUs were provided with the outputs of the VRA activity which are composed of the VRA Report, Risk Exposure Maps, threat advisories, 1:10,000 updated landslide and flood susceptibility maps, and IEC materials. The IEC-VRA campaign is one of the regular targets being implemented by the MGB to LGUs after the VRA project. In 2023, MGB Regional Office No. XIII has a target of six (6) municipalities for the IEC-VRA in Caraga Region.
