On the request of the Environment, Disaster Management and Emergency Response Office (EDMERO) of the Province of Camarines Sur, Rojelon Vic P. Amata, Senior Geologist, and Sherry May J. Buentiempo, Geologist I, provided a hands-on Training on Vulnerability and Risk Assessment using QGIS during the 5-Day Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) Training organized by EDMERO for 36 Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officers (LDRRMOs) of the municipalities and cities in the Province of Camarines Sur. Except for the municipalities of San Jose, Goa and Bombon, all LGUs sent participants to the said training that was held at the Camarines Sur Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Training Academy.

The 5-day QGIS training started with the first module on Introduction to Geographic Information System provided by a personnel of the Provincial Government of Camarines Sur. This was followed by modules on the Installation of the QGIS Software and its GIS Interface. From the 4^th module onwards, the lectures and hands-on exercises were already provided by the MGB-ROV geologists.

The training aims to communicate the results of the Geohazard Survey and Assessment of MGB and how these geohazard maps should be used in vulnerability and risk assessment and in the preparation of the Climate and Disaster Risk Assessment (CDRA) that is required in the preparation of the DRR-CCA Enhanced Comprehensive Land Use Plans (ECLUP) of LGUs. This is also in support of the government’s efforts of strengthening the adaptive capacities of communities through risk and resiliency programs, particularly for officials preparing and implementing DRR plans and programs.

Since the training was aimed at capacitating the different LDRRMOs on how to undertake GIS-based Vulnerability and Risk Assessment for use in the preparation of local DRRM plan, the CDRA, ECLUP and the LCCAP, the training started with lectures on Introduction to Geologic Hazards and their Effects, the Geohazards Present in the Province of Camarines Sur and the Geohazard Maps produced by MGB-ROV for the province. The lectures progressively moved to Concepts and Differences in Hazards, Vulnerabilities and Risks and the different Methodologies and Mapping Scales of VRA to include exposure mapping of elements at risk, assessment of vulnerabilities of these exposed elements and finally, to risk assessment. After the theoretical part, hands-on exercises on the basic operations of Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS), using geohazard, vulnerability and risk data sets generated by MGB-ROV followed.