PH needs P347M to restore coastal forests in Eastern Visayas

An aerial image taken from a Philippine Air Force helicopter shows the devastation of the first landfall by typhoon Haiyan, Monday Nov. 11, 2013 in Guiuan, Eastern Samar province, central Philippines. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The government will be needing at least P347-M to restore mangrove and natural beaches along the coast of Eastern Visayas, said Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje.

Paje said they plan to plant 19 million seedlings along 19 thousand hectares of coastlines affected by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).

Paje said restoring the coastal forest in Eastern Visayas will set the foundation of reconstruction and recovery of coastal communities and urban areas of the province.

He said the plan will also establish “coastal greenbelt” to enable fishermen to continue their livelihood and to develop ecotourism activity.

Paje added that 80 percent of the funds will go to cash for work program  for typhoon survivors who will take part in seedling production, planting site preparation, actual planting, and maintenance of mangrove and beach forest areas.

In an interview with INQUIRER Radio 990AM, Samar Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction and Management Council Officer Cristine Caidic said the absence of mangrove in coastal areas aggravated the effect of storm surge that hit the coastline of the province.

“Most casualties were from the coastal areas of Samar. We already recorded 245 people dead and 210 were from Basey, a coastline community near Tacloban City,” said Caidic.

Caidic said retrieval operations have already stopped but clearing operations are still on-going.  With reports from Louie Garcia, Inquirer Radio 990AM