The Mines and Geosciences Bureau expects to buy 15 ground-penetrating radars next year to help map areas prone to flooding and landslides.
The purchase is included in the agency’s proposed budget for 2014 and the new radars will be used to produce a 1:10,000 geohazard map by next year, bureau dorector Leo Jasareno said.
The new maps are expected to replace the current 1:50,000 goehazard maps distributed to local governments.
The MGB only has one functioning ground-penetrating radar and has had to hire private surveyors to help with the mapping.
Mapping across 1,034 cities and municipalities should be completed by the end of the year, leaving 600 more cities and towns to map in 2014.
The mapping of geohazard areas in 1,034 cities and municipalities are seen to be completed by by the end of the year while detailing for 600 cities and municipalities are expected to be completed by next year.
The portable radars, which cost around P6 million each and will help engineers see underground, are part of the P400-million mapping project.
The bureau will also map coastal areas prone to erosion to define no-build zones.
“If people are conscious about geohazard, fatalities in times of natural disasters would be greatly reduced,” Jasareno said.
The MGB will also conduct a hydrological assessment project to find aquifers, or underground sources of water. — JDS, GMA News
