Sanggunian Panlungsod to pass an ordinance on standards for low cost typhoon resistant housing

By Irma A. Guhit

SORSOGON CITY, January 11 (PIA)….. Warned by the impact of typhoons and how to promote awareness among people in typhoon prevalent areas as experienced in Cagayan de Oro, the Sangguniang Panlungsod here will pass an ordinance to institute standards on typhoon resistant low cost housing. This was learned from the office of the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation as explained yesterday by Mr. Tito Fortes.

According to Fortes the city government through the assistance of the UN Habitat Foundation Urban Planning (UNHFUP) has already piloted here several houses that have been retrofitted according to the standards of typhoon resistant housing following set by the UNFUP.

These houses are located in the six pilot-barangays here in the city that has been constructed/ retrofitted and have become the proto-type model for low cost housing typhoon resistant houses.

The Sanggunian Bayan through the assistance of the UN Habitat Foundation will formulate the criteria that will be followed as a pioneering accomplishment of the city to mitigate the effects of natural calamities and will be contained in a tool kit that will be the basis for assessment of houses specially those located in the shorelines of the different barangays here.

Fortes also explained that the thrust of the city now is to make people more aware in the style of houses that will be more resistant and assess location where houses should be built that will be contained in the city urban planning mechanisms in creating resilient communities.

The city engineering office here according to Fortes is conducting the 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 housing standards.

He also explained that the standards set for the creation of typhoon resistant houses will partly be provided funding coming from the international funding agencies of the CCAM program, from the disaster risk reduction fund assistance projects and local government budgetary allocation for urban planning.

He also said that hand in hand all other departments have forge their efforts to arrive at a city action plan and cascade it to the community action plan so that necessary implementable doable projects can be cooperatively accomplished specifically along housing standards.

The identified highly six vulnerable areas here under the UN Habitat program will be constantly  provided 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.(PIA-SORSOGON)