A workshop on Risk-Sensitive Land Use Planning (RSLUP) was conducted on January 18-19, 2012 at the C3 Conference Room of Pasig City Hall. The day and a half RSLUP orientation is part of the “Pasig City Resilience to Earthquakes and Floods Project”, a joint undertaking of the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI) and Pasig City Government (PCG).

The training workshop was spearheaded by Dr. Renan Tanhueco, EMI Land Use Planning Expert. Fifteen participants from the city attended the workshop, representing the City Planning and Development Office, the Pasig City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PCDRRMO), the City Environmental and Natural Resources, Office (CENRO) the Engineering Office, the Pasig Housing and Regulatory Unit (PHRU), the Urban Poor Affairs Office(UPAO) and the Assessor’s office.

The session started with an opening speech from the Pasig City Administrator, Atty. Reynaldo Dionisio. He went through a recap of all the workshops conducted since June 2011, which include the GIS Validation Workshop, Legal and Institutional Arrangements/ Network Analysis Workshop, Emergency Management Training Modules 1 & 2, Training of Engineers on Rapid Visual Screening, and finally the Orientation on Risk-Sensitive Land Use Planning. In this regard, Atty. Dionisio encouraged the participants to provide their continuous support and engagement to the city’s advocacy in making Pasig City disaster resilient. Moreover, he highlighted how the participatory planning process would build local ownership over the project. Therefore, he motivated everyone, especially the young generation of city officials to be more involved in the process and embrace the knowledge imparted to them.

In her short message, Arch. Luisa Soriano, Planning Department Head, reiterated the opportunity presented by the workshop to gain sufficient capacity in order for Pasig City to be able to produce its own RSLUP.

The presentation started with Dr. Tanhueco (PhD. Urban and Regional Planning, Univ. of the Phils.), introducing the general concept and framework of a Risk Sensitive Land Use Plan. Dr. Tanhueco then introduced Risk Assessment, and cited concrete examples from EMI’s current Kathmandu Valley project, which shares similar factors to that of Pasig City (highly dense area, exposed to flooding and earthquakes). Subsequently, he explained the necessity of mainstreaming DRR (Disaster Reduction Risk) and CCA (Climate Change Adaptation) into the Pasig City CLUP (Comprehensive Land Use Plan). He stressed that in order to do so, a strong coordination and exchange between city departments and other agencies will be crucial.

In addition to Dr. Tanhueco’s lecture, Ms. Mejillano from the Local Development Planning Division of the Department of Interior of Local Government (DILG), further explained the importance of mainstreaming CCA and DRR into local plans in accordance with R.A. 10121 & R.A. 9729. These are recent national laws aiming to increase the resilience of communities against natural disasters and reduce damages and losses. Ms. Mejillano, also stressed the need for a bottom-up approach in community risk assessment (i.e. include villages). Finally, she argued that local governance issues regarding risks should not solely be regarded as local but should also be considered within a regional context (i.e. Pasig natural basin region).

On the second day, the participants were engaged in a participatory exercise where they had to reflect on DRR mainstreaming. First, it started with a levelling-off session, where Mr. Ritche Van Angeles, Officer-in-Charge of the PCDRRMO, provided an overview of the Typhoon Ondoy report and the Pasig City Earthquake Plan. This was followed by a presentation on Pasig’s CCA Plan by Ms. Naciongayo, from the City Environmental and Natural Resource Office (CENRO), which was meant to orient those present about the DRR and CCA initiatives of the city. Lastly, the participants reflected on each of the 12 steps in the process of CLUP preparation, in order to propose a Work Plan needed to prepare a RSLUP incorporating both Pasig’s DRR and CCA strategies. The 12-step process was adopted from HLURB guidelines, which includes the following:

1. Getting Organized
2. Identifying Stakeholders
3. Setting the Vision
4. Analyzing the situation
5. Goals and Objectives Setting
6. Development Trust and Strategies
7. Preparing the Risk-Sensitive Land Use Plan
8. Drafting the Zoning Ordinance (ZO)
9. Public Hearing for the Draft RSLUP and ZO
10. Reviewing, Adopting,and Approving the RSLUP/ZO
11. Implementing the RSLUP and ZO
12. Monitoring, Reviewing and Evaluating the RSLUP/ZO

EMI's Global Internship is open to graduating and post-graduate students around the world who are currently enrolled in master's or doctorate programs and who would like to get hands on experience in urban risk reduction. In the past, EMI has received master's students from Kobe University in Japan and the University of Barcelona in Spain, and now has an ongoing partnership with the SciencesPo in France. Selected young professionals are provided the opportunity to get involved in its various programs covering key urban risk reduction practices such as emergency management, risk sensitive land use planning, risk governance and policy, slums shelter and housing resilience, social participation and protection, vulnerability and risk assessment, knowledge management, GIS, and capacity building.

EMI's Global Internship enriches the learning experience of graduating students with actual engagements in its different projects. Through this process, interns will get the chance to contribute to development of tools, conduct assessments, provide inputs to reports, write proposals, do field work, and interact with other scientists, experts, practitioners and local officials. EMI is a laboratory for testing assumptions, exchanging knowledge, and developing practical solutions and products that addresses the risks faced by complex cities and metropolises around the world. It is a unique experience that EMI provides with its dynamic and young Secretariat team as well as its global network of experts.

For more information about EMI's Global Internship and for those interested in applying, please send inquiry to Knowledge Management Department, EMI through This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Field investigations under the Research Study to Identify The Red Cross and Red Crescent Niche in Urban Community Resilience Programming in Asia Pacific have been completed (except for visit to Bangkok scheduled for mid-January). EMI consultant and Project Manager Aynur Kadihasanoglu visited Kuala Lumpur during 7-10 November 2011 and met with IFRC Asia Pacific Zone staff and the representatives of several Partner National Societies. She also conducted interviews with key informants in Hanoi, Vietnam; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and Beijing, China during 11-17 December 2011. The third field visit was completed by EMI Technical Manager Jerome Zayas to Jakarta, Indonesia where he had the chance to talk to Indonesian Red Cross and other stakeholders. The key informants that EMI consultants talked to represent National Societies of Red Cross/Red Crescent in the country, IFRC Asia Pacific Zone and regional offices and the representatives of several Partner National Societies, UNDP, UNHABITAT, the World Bank and other international and civil society organizations working in urban DRR field.

The consolidated findings of these field investigations will be used to inform the analytical phase of the research study and form the basis of the recommendations that EMI will make to IFRC. The recommendations will focus on possible strategies, programmatic directions and overall community resilience programming aspects in urban areas in the Asia Pacific. The study will inherently consider climate change issues as well as the preparedness, mitigation, prevention, response, early recovery elements.

For more information, you may contact the EMI Project Manager, Ms. Aynur Kadihasanoglu This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .