Dumaguete City and Valencia and Sibulan towns in Negros Oriental and the German Development Corp. recently signed a memorandum of agreement for the establishment of the Local Flood Early Warning System.

Environment and Natural Resources Division Chief, Mercy Teves, said the three LGUs that partnered with GIZ are those badly hit by typhoon “Sendong” December 2011, that claimed 36 lives and damaged properties and infrastructure.

Under the agreement, the GIZ will provide technical and funding support for disaster risk reduction management by installing an early warning system in the major river basin of Banica and Ocoy that are flood-prone.

The system will monitor and detect the flooding condition upstream so the residents downstream will be warned ahead of the floods, Teves said.

GIZ chief advisor Olaf Neussner said the community will be trained to interpret rainfall and river level data and report these to their local operations center.

Automated gauges play a key role in the system that can forecast flood events and are augmented by local observers to warn the people in the hazard zone, Neussner said.

He signed the MOA together with Mayor Enrique Gonzales of Valencia, Dumaguete City Administrator William Ablong for Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria; Sibulan IO Connie Rosales on behalf of Mayor Marcela Bartoces; Provincial Legal Officer Richard Enojo and NegOr Administrator Arnel Francisco.

Meanwhile, in his recent visit to the province, DILG Secretary Mar Roxas challenged government officials and line agencies in Negros Oriental to prepare for the next typhoon season even as he lauded pre-disaster efforts that resulted in minimal damage during super typhoon “Pablo”.

Roxas said there is a need to give an honest-to-goodness assessment and evaluation of the disaster preparedness plan, a list of things that should have been done ahead of the storm, and the positive attitude, or will, to improve on a better program for the next typhoon season.*JFP

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