BAGUIO has nearly P100 million worth of infrastructure damage to date caused by the nonstop rains battering the region.
According to City Administrator Bonifacio Dela Peña, the situation reports from the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) have revealed that the city has incurred a total of P90 million in damages to the city’s infrastructure, both public and private.
“We know that in the city of Baguio, our main sources of damage are landslides, slips, and collapses. Our damages here are already going as high as P90 million. This is a combination of public and private property. We have two houses that are completely damaged, we have houses and buildings that are partially damaged,” Dela Peña
The larger portion of the damage has been dealt to the city’s private sector infrastructure, such as residences in the city, according to Dela Peña.
30 percent of the losses were incurred in the form of damaged public infrastructure, while the remaining 70 percent are from privately-owned infrastructure.
He added that the most costly damage in public infrastructure has been the collapsed retaining wall along Leonard Wood Road, which cost some P20 million.
The city’s drainage system has also taken damage in certain portions, he added.
“Practically, we are close to solving the drainage problems that the city of Baguio faces, but it is not yet complete. We still have portions to fix, we have isolated cases of damage to the drainage systems,” he said.
The city is currently keeping an eye on infrastructure situated on slopes in the city, which are the highest-risk infrastructure in the city’s jurisdiction.
“It is hard, what is happening now. Our land can only take so much water content. Our soil saturation is becoming excessive, because this rain has been ongoing for two weeks already,” Dela Peña said.
Antonette Anaban, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), presented during the regular management committee meeting of local officials held on August 3 the preliminary Rapid Disaster and Needs Analysis (RDANA) of the Southwest Monsoon that has been affecting the Summer Capital the past days.
The meeting at the Baguio Convention Center was led by Mayor Benjamin Magalong.
She said RDANA is a disaster response tool that is used immediately during the early and critical state of a disaster as soon as the conditions allow disaster survey teams to operate. It aims to determine immediate relief and response requirements.
The city’s RDANA team is composed of personnel from the CDRRMO and the engineering, health services, social welfare and development, building and architecture offices.
Anaban said the heavy rains caused 82 soil erosions/landslides in the city and affected 43 trees; 15 collapsed ripraps/walls; eight floodings; five electrical problems; four damaged canals/ drainages; two road problems; and stranded one family.
It caused four casualties (one dead, three injured) and affected 131 families consisting of 581 persons with 11 families and 41 individuals served inside the evacuation center while 120 families and 536 persons were served outside the evacuation center by the City Social Welfare and Development Office, she said.
The monsoon rains also affected three local farmers and caused damage to agriculture worth P146,914. Damage to private infrastructure amounted to P17, 685,000 while public infrastructure suffered P80,685,000 for a total of P98,370,000 in infrastructure damages.
Anaban said the CDRRMO envisions to create a sustainable and enabling environment; aims for zero casualty and rescue human suffering; and decrease property damage. – with reports from Gaby B. Keith
