DUMAGUETE: Government agencies, utility firms, and other stakeholders have been directed to include rehabilitation and post-El Niño interventions in their respective mitigation and response plans as Negros Oriental braces for an escalation of the ongoing dry spell in the province.
‘We will come up with a comprehensive provincial action plan aligned with the national action plan but in a localized setting with some innovations,’ Adrian Sedillo, executive director of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), said in an interview Friday.
‘Hopefully, the agencies have included rehabilitation in their current action plans considering not just the immediate effects but also post-El Niño consequences.’
Sedillo said Governor Manuel Sagarbarria has given the go-signal to convene the PDDRM Council in the first week of February to discuss the contingency plans for smooth and coordinated interventions.
The PDDRMC, chaired by the governor, comprises key government offices and agencies and
other partner stakeholders that formulate a comprehensive and integrated disaster risk reduction plan while the PDRRMO implements the plan.
Sedillo said with the onset of El Niño that has triggered a dry spell in Negros Oriental, the PDRRMC would convene to consolidate the individual contingency plans of each agency, as well as other partners, such as water and power utilities.
Some of the key agencies that have already mapped out their respective mitigation and response action plans are the Department of Agriculture, the National Irrigation Administration, and the National Food Authority.
Sedillo highlighted the need to include in the contingency plan the rehabilitation and other post-El Niño programs to ensure that farmers and those affected by the dry spell could recoup their losses.
The current dry spell is forecast to extend through the second quarter of this year and there is a possibility of a drought owing to the little rainfall in the province, as announced by the weather bureau here.
The govern
or is expected to issue an executive order creating the Provincial Task Force El Niño in response to the executive order of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Sedillo said.
Source: Philippines News Agency