Sunday, December 09, 2007 Maps on risky land areas in city up
MAYOR Reinaldo Bautista, Jr. issued Administrative Order 236 for the creation of maps as to risky areas in the city due to landslides, flooding and subsidence due to Karst development.
Karst is a "limestone region marked by sinks, abrupt ridges, irregular protuberant rocks, caverns and underground streams."
The AO said a detailed map is needed for affected occupants of high risk areas to prevent death, injury and damage to properties.
In a City Council resolution on which the AO was based, a map furnished by the City Buildings and Architecture Office (Cbao) shows areas in the city susceptible to landslide, flooding and subsidence.
A geohazard map done in 2002 and a landslide susceptibility map of the Baguio Quadrangle completed in 2006, both prepared by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, (DENR) also showed the affected areas.
The council resolution urged the mayor through concerned offices - Cbao, City Disaster Coordinating Council, Barangay Affairs Office, City Engineering Office and the City Planning and Development Office - to conduct an inventory and obtain a map of said areas.
Some of Karst-prone areas are already occupied by houses. Occupants should be warned or advised to adopt measures to prevent death, injury and damage to properties, the council stressed.
Construction of any structure be disallowed, under penalty for entities who violate such provisions, according to section 45 of Republic Act 7279.
The map should also give guidance to the City Environment and Parks Management Office on how to "reforest and regreen the area in order to prevent introduction of future structures thereat as these areas are only suitable for said environmental purpose."
Recommendations from the council committee on urban planning, lands and housing, chaired by Councilor Isabelo Cosalan, Jr., include consideration for technical and the legalities involved.
The committee, created by the mayor for the inventory, has representatives from the offices mentioned, the City Legal Office, Special Services Division of the Mayor’s Office, and MGB. Chaired by the mayor, the co-chairperson and action officer is the chairp of the council committee on urban planning, lands and housing.
The AO would take effect immediately, Bautista said. (Julie Fianza)
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