No abstract

In recent years, Cagayan de Oro has experienced the damaging impacts of flooding. In December 2011, Tropical Storm Sendong (Washi) caused the most devastating flood in the city's history which caused unparalleled damages and casualties. To mitigate the impacts of river flooding, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has instituted the Flood Risk Management Project-Cagayan de Oro River which proposes the construction of a 12-km dike system along the river. However, the dike system is designed for a Pablo scale flood which is estimated at 25-year return period, as compared to a Sendong scale flood which is approximated at 50-year return period. This study aims to determine the flood inundated area along the Cagayan de Oro River considering the proposed dike system under a Sendong scale flood. A high resolution Digital Terrain Model (DTM) derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data was used. Flood profiles were then determined using a one-dimensional steady-state flow model. After running through 66 models, the final model is used to simulate the flood behavior with the proposed dike system. Results show that majority of the areas along the river are protected by the dike, thus conforming to the Pablo scale flood design. However, under a Sendong flood, results show that some areas along barangays Carmen, Balulang, and Macasandig could be flooded, with a total area of approximately 37 hectares. It is recommended that concerned government agencies revisit and review the design details before full implementation to ensure a sustainable flood mitigation project.

No abstract

Despite the controversy regarding their use, school buildings are often assigned as emergency evacuation shelters, temporary accommodation and aid distribution hubs following disasters. This paper presents a methodology to compare the relative suitability of different school buildings for these purposes by using the analytical hierarchy process to weight criteria based on the combined opinions of relevant experts and combine these with descriptive scores from surveyed buildings. The aggregated weights show that approximately equal weighting should be given to the hard characteristics (hazard at location and physical vulnerability) and soft characteristics (accessibility, communications, living environment, access to supplies). As well as immediate safety, conditions for inhabitation are important so that displaced persons are not discouraged from evacuating to shelters and shelter life is not detrimental to health and well-being. The study allows an optimal selection of school buildings used as shelters before and after a disaster and highlights where most improvement could be made with relatively little time and resources for both individual buildings and the whole study area. This method was applied to Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines, an area exposed to floods, windstorms and earthquakes, but can be adapted for other local contexts and building types. Among the 38 school buildings surveyed, we identified key areas for improvement as being insufficient pedestrian access for evacuation at night and for those with mobility constraints, and a lack of alternate spaces for evacuee activities leading to interference with education.