Dredging continues in Ilocos’ flood-prone areas

RIVER DREDGING. A dredging operator at the mouth of the Bislak River in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte in this undated photo. Dredging activities are ongoing to anticipate heavy rains this rainy season, a local official said. (Lei Adriano)

By Leilanie Adriano & Dominic B. dela Cruz

LAOAG CITY—Ilocos Norte’s provincial government is lending its backhoe, excavator, and other equipment to towns and barangays in the province to hasten the desilting of rivers and creeks in anticipation of heavy rainfall that could trigger flash floods in low-lying areas.

Marcel Tabije, local disaster risk reduction and management officer of Ilocos Norte reported that the desilting of waterways is ongoing in the flood-prone areas of Paoay, Pinili, Badoc, and Pagudpud towns.

“We are declogging these waterways in anticipation of heavy rains and bring back their depth to prevent overflow that inundates nearby communities,” Tabije said.

Aside from lending equipment, the provincial government’s implementation of the cash-for-work and emergency employment programs has focused on massive clean-up drives for the simultaneous declogging of waterways province-wide.

Critical infrastructures, such as roads and bridges, flood control structures, and irrigation systems have also been monitored since the onset of the rainy season.

"We continue to appeal to all our kakailian to always be prepared as rainy days (have) come," Tabije said.

The latest geohazard study conducted by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) cited the need to dredge rivers and creeks in the province to induce water flow into the sea and reduce riverbank erosion and flooding.

The MGB also recommended to the concerned local governments that settlement should be avoided at the foot of mountains, areas immediately adjacent to river channels, near canyons, and gullies transecting upland areas.

 

Officials mark evacuation centers in Laoag

Meanwhile, the Laoag City government and the local Department of Education office identified schools designated evacuation centers in times of calamities and disasters.

The designated evacuation centers were identified based on the memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed between the city government represented by Laoag mayor Michael M. Keon and the DepEd represented by Dr. Joann Corpuz.

Laoag councilor John Michael Fariñas, who chairs the committee on education, cited several laws that provides the need for the city government  to provide evacuation centers. He said there is a  need to enhance the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council’s Operations Center and Evacuation Centers to have efficient coordination of information and resources to support incident management activities.  

The schools identified as evacuation centers are A.P. Santos Elementary School, Eulalio F. Siazon Elementary School, Ilocos Norte National High School, Shamrock Elementary School, Gabaldon Elementary School, Plaridel Elementary School, Cabeza Elementary School, Buttong Integrated School, and Roque Ablan Elementary School.

He added that the city government, with the Laoag DepEd, and the concerned school heads of various schools, mutually agreed to dynamically work hand-in-hand for the safety of the residents and to designate various schools in Laoag City as an Evacuation Center to be utilized during disasters.