THE Zamboanga City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) is eyeing to conduct census and tagging of houses in hazard-risk areas to enable the City Government to estimate how many people are affected once disaster strikes.

CDRRMO chief Elmeir Jade Apolinario said the tagging of houses will be based on the geohazard map drawn by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Apolinario said it will be conducted with partner agencies like the housing and land management division of the city mayor’s office, City Planning and Development Coordinator and DENR.

“We usually conduct tagging after the occurrence of disasters. Now we will do it before the occurrence of anything,” he added.

The CDRRMO chief said this initiative will help to greatly improve the city’s capacities to swiftly and efficiently respond to all kinds of emergencies.

He said the data gathered in the census and tagging will be used by the security cluster to determine who are residing in a particular area. (Bong Garcia/SunStar Philippines)