ILIGAN CITY – The Geo-SAFER Western Mindanao Project conducted a two-day training, with the theme “Trainor’s Training on Fundamentals of Flood Disaster Preparedness Towards a Flood Resilient Community,” for its partner LGUs and HEIs last March 8–9, 2018 held at Jacko’s Kan-anan, Iligan City.

Two guest resource speakers were invited to share their expertise and the current initiatives of their respective agencies in terms of disaster risk reduction during the first day of the training. Ma’am Anianita R. Fortich, Senior Weather Specialist designated as Officer-in-Charge of PAGASA-Mindanao talked about the World Meteorological Association and the Global Observing System; PAGASA-Mindanao’s Observing Facilities, Basic Instruments, and Equipment; and Information Dissemination. In her talk, she mentioned about how costly their daily operations are and how she is hopeful that their upgrades and expansions will be realized so that they will have a greater scope for the weather monitoring here in Mindanao.

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Engr. Nahum “Bong” Q. Colocar, LGOO V of DILG Region X and a focal person on Disaster Risk Reduction - Climate Change Adaptation (DRR-CCA), discussed the current programs and initiatives of DILG for the LGUs in terms of DRR-CCA. Some of the programs that he discussed are the DRR OPERATION LISTO Risk Map Preparation Using Advanced GIS for Climate Change and Disaster Risk and Vulnerability Reduction; the Local Climate Change Adaptation plan (LCCAP); and the Incident Command System (ICS). “Collaboration between the LGUs, government agencies, and public and private institutions is important. There is no development if we isolate ourselves.” he stated.

The different modules included in the training are Overview on GIS, Weather Monitoring, Data Acquisition, and its Importance, Flood Risk and Exposure Assessment, Flood Evacuation Assessment Using QGIS, and Evacuation Path Analysis.