LOCAL governments (LGUs) are playing a much larger role in disaster planning, preparation and mitigation under a new law that expands the mandate of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) to strengthen the public resilience of at-risk communities to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis.
“In keeping with the whole-of-society approach to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and management, LGUs are taking on a larger, far-reaching role in disaster planning, preparation and mitigation under the newly-signed law technologizing or modernizing the Phivolcs,” Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte in a statement said:
Villafuerte is a co-author of Republic Act 12180 or the “Phivolcs Modernization Act,” signed by President Marcos last April.
The law aims to upgrade the country’s capability to monitor and respond to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis in a bid to mitigate the calamitous impacts of these geohazards on people’s lives, infrastructures, assets and businesses.
Villafuerte noted that RA 12180 seeks to build up the Phivolcs by providing it with state-of-the-art equipment, facilities and research capabilities as well as with better-trained personnel and more seismic stations, especially in at-risk communities.
“And to vastly improve its capabilities to detect and locate volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis and other geotectonic hazards, the Phivolcs is tasked by RA 12180 to have a much closer working relationship with LGUs, particularly those with communities at risk of geotectonic hazards,” Villafuerte said.
The whole-of-society approach involves, according to this Phivolcs modernization law, the meaningful and active participation and synergy of the different stakeholders of society, including LGUs, toward climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction at the national and local levels.
Given this holistic mandate, Villafuerte said RA 12180 requires the Phivolcs to pursue an enhanced public information system and linkages with all concerned sectors, including “continuous sharing of information with LGUs and other stakeholders to help in disaster planning, preparation and disaster mitigation.”
The law directs the Phivolcs to “share risk information with LGUs and other stakeholders in disaster planning, preparation, mitigation, and risk transfer, among others, to provide social and economic protection and increase resilience in times of disaster.”
The Phivolcs is mandated by RA 12180 to “exert sustained efforts to collaborate and align with LGUs, including on platforms for information sharing and monitoring, so that the agency’s hazards and risk information systems, such as GeoRiskPH and Rapid Earthquake Damage Assessment System platforms, can be updated regularly for disaster planning, preparation, disaster mitigation, among others.”