High-resolution geohazard maps of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR), reviewed and standard-formatted by the Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC), are now available for downloading by the public at the ESSC website.

The MGB-DENR previously announced this uploading of geohazard maps and online facility last month. The maps are being made available incrementally, ESSC Geomatics Associate Emmanuel Sambale said, with the initial maps for Regions 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, ARMM, CAR and, NCR available since 31 January, and those of other regions to follow.

"We are working on ways to optimize usage, search and retrieval of these maps on our website. Adding a search optimization so that a user will not have to search through voluminous files just to find his area, is one such improvement," said ESSC Executive Director Sylvia Miclat told IRIN, the United Nation's humanitarian news and analysis service.

Most of the maps are available as JPEG (jpg) poster maps divided into the standard 1:50,000 scale topographic map sheets. The high-resolution images (approximately 6000 x 4000 pixels) are designed for printing as posters (A1 paper size) and file sizes range from three to seven megabytes. The ESSC does not provide hard companies of the maps, but it encourages the public to print, such as in tarpaulin, and use them in their communities, Sambale added.

The geohazard maps were developed by the MGB-DENR after a nationwide survey and assessment from base maps, satellite imagery and fieldwork. The geohazard maps are designed to classify and identify areas based on their level of susceptibility to floods, flashfloods, landslides and soil erosion, including relocation sites for communities. In the past, these maps were available at the MGB website at lower resolution and distributed to local government units for their land use planning and zoning needs.

The MGB plans to develop maps on a scale of 1:10,000 (1 cm=100m on the ground) by 2014, in which the village boundaries will be clearly indicated. It is also considering plans to develop models to predict climate change impact on natural disasters.

In 2011, the Philippines ranked first worldwide in the number of natural disasters that occurred, with 33 occurrences.

Questions and inquiries regarding the maps can be communicated to Emmanuel Sambale at geohazard@essc.org.ph.

For related news article, please see IRIN.