WEATHER and geological experts warned Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental, and advised local government officials to strengthen disaster-preparedness measures to better respond to calamities.

This coincided with the entry of yet another tropical storm (International name: Parma), monitored by the local office of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) to be at 1,040 km east of Northern Mindanao at around 4 p.m. last Wednesday.

Sun.Star accepts donations for victims of Typhoon Ondoy

Weather specialist Nelly Embalsado the Pagasa Cagayan de Oro station said Parma—renamed “Pepeng” after entering the Philippine Area of Responsibility—has a maximum sustained winds of 95 kilmeters per hour with gustiness of up to 120 kilometers per hour. It is moving west-northwest at 22 kilometers per hour.

“Unless there will be drastic changes in wind direction, Parma will affect Visayas, Northern Luzon at some parts of Mindanao. The general direction of the storm system is west-northwest to Northern Luzon—Taiwan area,” Embalsado told the Sun.Star.

Embalsado the storm system may contribute to more rains throughout the region.

With this, Embalsado said the weather bureau must keep tabs on the volume of rainfall to detect possible inundation.

She noted that in January registers rainfall volume was 82.8 mililimeters, with heavy downpours lasting to ten days within the month.

That’s like having a one whole month average of rainfall in just one day, said Embalsado.

The flashfloods ravaged 51 of the city’s 80 barangays, affected some 20,209 families or 105,715 persons, said seven lives and destroyed some 1,014 houses, figures from the the City Disaster Coordinating Council (CDCC) show.

Carmelito Lupo, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD 10), said collaborative inter-agency effort in disaster assessment and risk management and collective awareness of any impending weather hazard are keys to mitigating deaths and damages to properties during calamities and disasters.

In terms of preparedness, he said Northern Mindanao asa whole was “ready for any natural disasters.”

“We are ready because as an umbrella organization, each member-agency has a specific task assigned,” said Lupo.

But he made it clear that Local Government Units and its constituents share equally important roles in mitigating calamitous events in their areas.

“LGUs and their citizens should always prepare for calamities. There should be a solid emergency measures in place to minimize if not prevent deaths and loss of properties,” he said.

In Misamis Oriental, the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) has begun conducting refresher course on disaster management following lessons from the "Ondoy" tragedy.

Last Tuesday, PDCC members met to map out its contingency measures in preparation for "Pepeng".

While it remains uncertain that “Pepeng” would affect the region, “it was always to be up and ready,” said Maricel Casiño-Rivera, chief of the Provincial Press Office.

Capitol’s preparation includes the planned purchase at least six rubber boats, she said.

Rivera added that PDCC has learned “many lessons” from the Manila flooding, and has identified the deficiencies in the rescue efforts based on media reports.

Aside from rubber boats, she said Capitol will likely purchase a digital rain gauge- a sophisticated device that can easily measure the rain amount so that residents can immediately be warned and head for safer places.

Meanwhile, the head of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Northern Mindanao (MGB-X) said the Manila debacle can happen in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental, pointing out these areas have lowlands and coastal areas vulnerable to landslides and flooding.

“Yes, it is very likely. It is very possible that the same degree of inundation can happen here,” said MGB-X Regional Director Juanito Manzano.

Earlier, MGB-X identified the coastal lowlands along the mouths of the Odiongan and Samay rivers in Gingoog City and in Cagayan de Oro, Cugman and Agusan rivers in Cagayan de Oro City as aread vulnerable to flooding.

The barangays located near the banks of Gingoog, Cagayan, Iponan, Tagoloan, Alubijid, Bigaan and Salay rivers and Talisayan Creek are also known to flood,” the MGB-X said in a report.

“Riverine flooding also affects most of the low-lying areas near the Cagayan de Oro River. This is especially true in the case of Isla de Oro, a presently inhabited sandbar, and located downstream section of the said river. Whenever the Bitan-ag Creek overflows, because of high precipitation upstream, areas within and adjacent to the Lim Ket Kai Commercial Complex are affected by floodwater,” it said.