The Cordillera office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-CAR) directed its field offices to coordinate with local governments and concerned sectors to assess and evaluate their re-disaster risk assessments to ensure their preparedness for the upcoming onslaught of the La Nina phenomenon in the region.
DENR-CAR regional executive director Engr. Paquito Moreno said that Environment Secretary Maria Antonette Yulo-Loyzaga issued marching orders to the regional offices to take the lead in assessing and evaluating the pre-disaster risk assessments of local governments so that the necessary adjustments could be introduced to ensure the government’s readiness to respond to various scenarios that will be created by the onslaught of the La Nina phenomenon where heavy rains are expected to prevail in the various parts of the region.
He added that the timely assessment and evaluation of the pre-disaster risk assessments of local governments and concerned government agencies will allow the provision of inputs from various sectors to address possible gaps and contribute in significantly reducing the vulnerability of communities and the exposure of life and limb to extreme danger.
“We would like to make sure that we will be ready for whatever eventuality that may transpire during the rainy season. We also want to contribute in the realization of zero casualty during the onslaught of natural calamities in our region,” Director Moreno stressed.
The DEN-CAR official claimed that he also issued directives to the various Community Environment and Natural Resources offices (CENROs) to conduct an inventory on the trees that pose threats to vital installations such as power and communication lines so that the same could be immediately removed in close coordination with the local governments as one of the measures to significantly reduce the occurrence of unscheduled power interruptions caused by trees that fall on power and telecommunications lines during the rainy season.
According to him, the safety of the people living in vulnerable communities is one of the primordial concerns of the agency that is why even before the onslaught of the La Nina phenomenon, appropriate measures are now being put in place to address the concerns of the people to avoid the occurrence of untoward incidents at the height of the rainy season that pose a serious threat to life and limb.
Moreno appealed to the local governments and concerned sectors for their utmost and active participation in the aforesaid endeavors to help the government address whatever threats to life and limb as a result of the expected onslaught of heavy rains due to the prevalence of the El Nino phenomenon.
He pointed out that trees that may possibly fall on power and telecommunication lines as per the assessment and evaluation of technical personnel should already be removed even before the onslaught of the rainy season so that the danger that it poses will be abated and ensure the continuous power supply and uninterrupted telecommunication signals for people living in different communities around the region.
Moreno suggested that the removal of the trees that threaten power and telecommunication lines must be properly documented pursuant to existing laws, rules and regulations to ensure that there will be no untoward issues that will be raised against said activity that will be undertaken considering that what had been primarily considered is the overall safety of the public living in the affected communities by Dexter A. See