Building Blocks

Baguio, Cordillera now recognize danger zones

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines--Capitalizing on a prevailing post-calamity mood, officials of the summer capital this week agreed to relocate communities from districts that government geologists had long identified as hazard areas.

Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. on Thursday announced that Baguio had returned to normal.

But on Friday, the mayor and the city council began drawing up plans to address potential landslides at heavily populated Quirino Hill, and threats of flooding in at least four places near a river.

Bautista said the officials are heeding a report from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) which lists communities that are vulnerable to disasters.

The city government will address these by putting up drains to divert runoff water that can trigger floods or erosion, or by financing new communities in neighboring Benguet towns so they can reestablish barangays that may have to be displaced, he said.

Recovery and relocation plans are also being drawn up in Benguet, Mountain Province and Ifugao, where denuded forests and inhabited riversides have contributed to landslides in some towns there.

Copyright INQUIRER.net and content partners. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.