On 6 February 2024, at 7:30 PM, a rain-induced landslide hit a small village in Zone 1, Barangay Masara, Maco, Davao de Oro. The Masara Landslide Incident buried numerous structures, including the barangay hall, three service buses transporting workers from a nearby mining site, a jeepney, and dozens of houses. As of 21 February 2024, […]
Balanga
In the Time of Corona: Development Planning with the City of Balanga
t was sometime in 2019 when the City of Balanga sought the assistance of the University of the Philippines Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (UP NOAH) Center to update their Local Climate Change Action Plan and Disaster Risk Reduction Management Plan. At that time, when words such as COVID-19, pandemic, and Zoom weren’t part of the public’s daily lexicon, the UP NOAH Center team set out, armed with table top activities and presentations, to conduct workshops that are prerequisites to formulating and updating local development plans. While this seemed like a typical beginning of a formal working partnership, neither parties had the slightest idea of the amount of adjustment a global pandemic would require.