Malabon copies Marikina disaster response system

Flood-prone Malabon City is following in Marikina’s footsteps as its officials are working on putting in place a new system to improve the disaster response capabilities of residents in low-lying communities beside the Tullahan River.

The system, which resembles the one implemented in the shoe capital, will rely on an objective monitoring of the river’s water level through a meter gauge and a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera and institutionalized responses based on specific river levels, according to Roderick Tongol, head of Malabon’s disaster risk reduction management unit.

The meter gauge, he said, was painted last week on a wall under the Tenejeros Bridge by members of his unit and the city engineering office.

It is now being used by monitoring personnel at the city hall-based command center to get an accurate picture of the river level during inclement weather and high tide with the help of screens linked to a CCTV camera, he added.

On the other hand, the camera is hooked up to a “public address system” which local authorities can use to inform residents living near the river.

“This is real-time monitoring … unlike before when we had to rely on what our field reporters said and we didn’t know if [that information] was accurate,” Tongol said.

The other component of the system—the alert levels and corresponding action to be taken by authorities and residents—is still being worked out.

Bong Padua, the city’s public information officer, said that unlike before when residents in the 10 “areas of concern” would rely on the assessment of barangay officials, they would now have a more “objective” basis for their response.

“It will be easier for them to know when to leave,” he added.

According to Tongol, Malabon officials were hoping to have the institutionalized responses in place within the year.

He said city officials were still observing the water level which results in flooding in the low-lying barangays near the Tullahan River.

So far, based on historical data, the “critical level” of the Tullahan River was 12.5 meters, which would mean that residents should be forcibly evacuated.

“But we will have to review the data again so that we can come up with a (good) interpretation,” Tongol said.