STORM PREPS. Office workers brave the rains brought by Typhoon Chedeng on June 6, 2023. The head of Antipolo's City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said Wednesday (July 19, 2023) concerned personnel are implementing preparations ahead of a coming weather disturbance. (PNA file photo by Joan Bondoc)
ANTIPOLO CITY – City government officials here met on Wednesday to discuss the implementation of enhanced landslide and flooding preparations ahead of an active low-pressure area (LPA) just outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).
In an interview, Enrilito Bernardo Jr., head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), disclosed that Mayor Casimiro Ynares III called for the meeting to preempt complications the brewing weather disturbance may bring to the city’s almost one million residents.
“We are now trimming overhanging branches and clearing obstructions in drainages. We are also coordinating with Meralco regarding electric wires that may pose particular risk should their posts tip over during a storm,” he said in Filipino.
The city government’s preparations came on the heels of a rain-induced landslide in Vista Grande Subdivision in Barangay Santa Cruz on Sunday evening, which buried 15 houses occupied by informal settlers.
CDRRMO personnel and other first responders were able to rescue most of the affected residents except for a 41-year-old woman, who was the lone fatality in the incident.
Bernardo said a cold storage facility being built on a hill overlooking the buried homes is being probed in connection with the landslide, although he was quick to point out that the construction project had all the necessary government permits and the investigation was standard procedure.
He explained that while Antipolo has drawn much negative publicity from fatal landslides that have taken place over the years, flooding remains a much bigger threat to life and property.
“Our local government is much more focused on preventing or mitigating floods, especially in villages which serve as catch basins to rainwater. Of course, we realize that landslides get a lot of attention, which is why we have a continuous soil fortification program,” Bernardo said.
He noted that the city government is fortifying the soil in landslide-prone villages by constructing “rip-rap” walls along hillsides, a joint project with the Department of Public Works and Highways. (PNA)
