Sorsogon City to adopt low cost typhoon-resistant housing

January 17, 2012 // admin // Municipal

SORSOGON CITY, Jan. 17 (PNA) –- The city government here is adopting the standards of low cost typhoon-resistant housing set by an international group in its urban housing policies as part of its climate change adaptation and disaster mitigation strategies.

The city government now is using the impacts of typhoons and other weather abnormalities brought about by the prevailing climate change as basis in assessing houses specially those located along the shorelines and other vulnerable communities.

City Mayor Leovic Dioneda on Tuesday said he had recently directed the City Engineering Office (CEO) to formulate the standards based on the United Nations Habitat Foundation Urban Planning (UNHFUP) prototypes introduced in various low cost housing projects it has implemented in the locality.

The Foundation has piloted here several housing units that have been either constructed or retrofitted according to the standards of typhoon-resistant dwelling structures for the poor.

These houses, located in six pilot-barangays in the city would serve as the prototype models for the local government’s low cost typhoon resistant housing program and policies, the mayor said.

On the part of the CEO, its chief Tito Fortes explained that the thrust of the city is to make people more aware in the style of houses that will be more resistant and situated in areas identified in the city urban planning mechanisms in creating resilient communities.

“We will also be guided by the geological hazard map prepared by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to identify flood and landslide prone areas in the city,” Fortes said.

The CEO, he said is already conducting a rapid assessment and profiling of communities within the areas indicated as highly vulnerable to certain kinds of climatic conditions and the proper mitigation will be part of the city ordinance’s housing standards.

The standards set for the creation of typhoon resistant houses will partly be provided funding coming from international funding agencies involved in climate change adaptation and mitigation projects and from local government budgetary allocations for urban planning, he said.

Hand in hand, Dioneda said all other departments of the city government are putting up efforts for the city to arrive at an action plan that would be transformed into community action plans so that doable projects are accomplished with the participation of all stakeholders.

Capacity enhancement trainings on governance skills, bench markings of environmental situations and the vigilance mind set especially in promoting disaster risk reduction efforts within the confines of their homes will also be provided among communities in vulnerable areas based on the UN Habitat program, the city mayor added. (PNA)
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Sorsogon City to adopt low cost typhoon-resistant housing

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