NGO to LGU’s: integrate DRR in development plans

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/16 August) -- A non-governmental organization in Lanao del Norte has asked local government units in Lanao and Zamboanga Sur to integrate disaster risk reduction (DRR) in their development plans.
“The erratic changes of our climate which is creating abnormal hydro-meteorological hazards like floods, droughts and typhoons, and in the case of Mindanao it is being aggravated by human induced hazards like armed conflict and other forms of violence. Most often, communities could not cope up when such hazards hits them because there is no systems or mechanisms in place to respond to such hazards. Because of this, communities are vulnerable and would usually be facing imminent disasters,” said Mark Cervantes, project officer of Disaster Risk Reduction of Ecoweb Inc., a non-government office operating in Lanao del Norte provinces, Mismis Oriental and Josefina town of Zamboanga de Sur.

“Risk reduction is the concrete translation of precautionary principle,” Cervantes told 60 local officials in a two-day conference on DRR orientation that ended last August 11 at Ma. Cristina Hotel of Iligan. More at MindaNews