Training on the Climate and Disaster Exposure Database (ClimEx.db)

An orientation and training on the use of the Climate and Disaster Exposure Database (ClimEx.db) will be conducted by the Climate Change Commission (CCC), through Project Climate Twin Phoenix, in partnership with the City Government of Cagayan De Oro and the Mindanao University of Science and Technology (MUST), Cagayan De Oro. ClimEx.db is a tool designed to help communities and local governments in planning their land use and development while incorporating preventive measures to adapt to the effects of climate change in their localities.

The training will be held on April 3-5 in Cagayan De Oro City, which is one of the areas greatly devastated by tropical storm Sendong in 2011. Cagayan De Oro’s long-term recovery is being supported by Project Climate Twin Phoenix, a project implemented by the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and with support and technical assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Australian Government.

The training on the implementation, installation, maintenance, and operation of the exposure database, dubbed as ClimEx.db, is an ongoing initiative targeted to address the institutional capacity and individual competency gaps on climate/disaster risk management of the project’s local partners. It was successfully implemented in Iligan City in 2013 and is now being rolled out in Cagayan De Oro.

The ClimEx.db provides geo-referenced data on population, buildings, infrastructure and economic activities of an area, which are considered high-risk for flooding or which are predisposed to the impacts of climate change. It also includes an inventory of evacuation sites and spaces for use during disasters, an inventory of existing resources for early recovery and rehabilitations, and a resource of existing policies and ordinances pertaining to disaster planning, response, rehabilitation and recovery, among others.

This database will be mainly used to assess climate and disaster risk in terms of number of population that will potentially be affected in the event of a disaster, and estimated cost of damage to properties, and losses in potential income from stoppage of economic activities. It will guide the formulation of the city’s Flood Contingency Plan especially in preparing for worst case scenarios, and ultimately provide baseline data for measuring disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

During the three-day activity, the participants will have hands-on practice on the use of the ClimEx.db App and will be guided on the actual conduct of a field survey in target sites. Representatives from the Iligan City Planning and Development Office and its partner in the academe, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, were also invited to share their experiences in the implementation and use of ClimEx.db in Iligan City.