Philippine property firms urged to use geo-hazard maps

Business World (Philippines): The [Philippine] environment department has advised real estate firms, as well as future homebuyers, to refer to the agency’s geohazard maps to ensure that their properties are situated away from areas prone to landslides and floods.

In a statement on Friday, Environment Secretary Ramon Jesus P. Paje said that the maps produced by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) could help prospective buyers of lands and property developers avoid the risk of seeing their investments go to waste and, more importantly, endangering lives.

MGB’s geohazard mapping and assessment program, which is part of the government’s risk reduction and disaster management program, seeks to identify areas in the country susceptible to various geologic hazards like rain-induced landslides, floods, ground subsidence or sinking, and coastal degradation, among others. The maps show the level of vulnerability of a certain barangay or municipality to these kinds of disasters.

“Buying a house and lot is definitely a big investment for an ordinary family; that they have to pay at the most, for 30 years, if they acquire such through a housing loan. Finding out that their area gets easily flooded and prone to landslide later on would be tragic, so it is better to be on safe side always,” Mr. Paje stressed.

Property developers, on the other hand, were urged by the Cabinet official to use the maps to study their targeted areas for their projects and be able to make any necessary adjustments to the designs of their buildings….

A street scene in Albay, Luzon Island