Coastal geohazard mapping set in Cebu

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

A TOTAL of 97 coastal areas in the country, including Cebu, are in the list of priority areas for a geohazard mapping project currently conducted by state-run Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

Besides Cebu, MGB Acting Director Leo Jasareno told reporters that the project included shoreline communities in the provinces of Cagayan, La Union, Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, and Negros Oriental.

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The Philippines currently has a total of 36,289 kilometers of coastline while 832 out of the 1,541 cities and municipalities are situated in the coastal zone.

“With the completion of our geohazard mapping project on landslide- and flood-prone areas, the MGB is now set for coastal geohazard mapping, with particular attention on the effects of the rising sea level due to climate change,” Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon Paje said.

The DENR chief said results of the project will give disaster risk reduction agencies an idea which areas are experiencing erosion or are prone to erosion.

Specifically, the report must include the number of hectares of eroded coastal areas, the rate of erosion and accretion in a certain area, as well as identification of coastal areas vulnerable to erosion.

Coastal erosion is a result of a number of geologic, oceanographic and atmospheric factors, including the relative sea level rise due to climate change.

However, the rise of sea level can also result from man-made activities such as beach mining, Paje stressed.

He said that beach resorts and other infrastructure constructed along coastal areas are the ones that will be primarily affected by erosion due to rise of sea level.

No specific timeline, however, was disclosed for the duration of the project.

Among the parameters set by MGB in determining the priority areas to be covered by the project include the area’s inherence to vulnerability, average rainfall, wind surges affecting the area, and the number of population in the coastal area, among others.

In a Metro Cebu Summit on Climate Change two years ago, an environmental law professor from the University of San Jose-Recoletos quoted a study stating the city of Mandaue and Mactan Island will be erased from the map if the sea level will rise by four meters.

This scenario, according to environment lawyer Benjamin Cabrido, is possible in the next 20 years.

Early this year, Cebu City and other outlying areas were submerged in flood waters due to monsoon rains, which stalled traffic and cancelled several domestic flights.

The flooding also prompted local politicians to revive the proposal of creating the Metro Cebu Development Authority (MCDA), which aims to coordinate actions on flood control, traffic management, planning, solid waste disposal, among others.

Initial activities under the geo-hazard project include shoreline mapping, gathering of erosion evidences such as exposed roots of vegetation in the area, eroded roads and infrastructure, and gathering of anecdotal and historical information from the coastal populace.

“The existence of these evidences in the area would somehow confirm that the area is prone to erosion,” Jasareno said. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)