RECOGNIZING an urgent need to join forces against a common adversary, the City Government of Cagayan de Oro and the Provincial Government of Misamis Oriental agreed to work together for disaster responses.
This was prompted due to a flash flood that devastated portions of adjoining Barangays Bugo and Casinglot on October 16 resulting in three deaths and the evacuations of around 10,000 individuals.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration Climate Outlook for 2022 to 2023 forecasts above-average rainfall from September 2022 to March 2023, with the La Niña phenomenon to continue from December 2022 to February 2023.
Increased rainfall is one of the climate change impacts in the Philippines, along with sea level rise, more intense typhoons, droughts, heat waves, and compounded extreme weather events, according to studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Among the agreements reached between Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy and Gov. Pedro M. Unabia were the sharing of early warning information and the search and rescue assets of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO).
Both CDRRMO and PDRRMO also agreed to meet with their counterparts in the municipalities of Manolo Fortich, Baungon, Libona, Talakag, and Malitbog, all in the neighboring province of Bukidnon, to discuss the sharing of early warning information.
Currently, Cagayan de Oro City and the province of Bukidnon have an information-sharing agreement.
Both Mayor Uy and Gov. Unabia appealed to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which was invited to the coordination meeting in the Capitol on October 20, to fast-track the approval of river dredging applications.
Completion of DPWH drainage projects is crucial to flooding control, but if the rivers remain heavily silted, flooding will persist, Mayor Uy said.
“Bisan unsaon daghan drainage, kinahanglan gyud ang desilting sa atong mga suba,” Uy declared adding: “Ang problema kay dugay ang pag approve sa dredging sa DPWH Central Office.
