Negotiations between survivors of typhoon Pablo and the Department of Social Welfare and Development on the delivery of relief goods ended on Wednesday night, breaking days of tensions and skirmishes between local authorities and the communities.
Angry typhoon-affected residents protested at the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development here on Tuesday to call for the ouster of Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman for the “corruption and inept implementation” of relief and rehabilitation operations in areas devastated by typhoon Pablo (international code name Bopha).
The Government Service Insurance System said the deadline for the filing of applications for the emergency loans of those affected by typhoon “Pablo” has been extended by two weeks until Jan. 18.
Maria Rodriguez, 65, walks around what was once her community in Ban-ao here. After finding what she was looking for, she picks them up, then walks to her new home—a tent.
The state weather bureau is monitoring Thursday two potential cyclones that continue to bring moderate to heavy rains in Visayas and Mindanao.
Almost a month after typhoon Pablo (Bopha) flattened this town on Dec. 4, officials here urged residents to unite in the face of the daunting tasks of rebuilding and reconstruction, admitting that it would take them some time to get over the loss of lives and property.
As schools here open on Monday, a week behind schedule, teachers are faced with the tough challenge on how to lure back students still coping with the devastation brought by typhoon Pablo.
A passenger vessel ran aground on Thursday, after being hammered by strong winds and waves spawned by tropical depression Auring, but all 228 passengers—many of them students returning to this university town from the holidays—were rescued unharmed, authorities said.
The weather disturbance brought by tropical depression Auring, which has been affecting several Mindanao areas, prompted the cancellation of all domestic flights from and to Pagadian City, on Thursday, and a prohibition on all sea vessels from sailing into open waters in the Zamboanga peninsula.
Electric cooperatives officials took turns, on Saturday, in criticizing the power industry’s big three – the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) and the National Power Corp. (NPC)—for their “sluggish response” in restoring full power supply in areas devastated by typhoon Pablo, particularly Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental, Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Sur.
The December 18 road accident in Davao Oriental — which injured six Maguindanao doctors and their driver on the way to a medical mission for typhoon Pablo victims — has not deterred the province’s health workers from holding another mission there, the Maguindanao provincial health chief said on Friday.
The residents of Roxas City and three nearby municipalities have difficulty getting their potable water requirement as the water from Panay River, the only water source, has been contaminated with silt.
Some P32 million in crops were lost in Bicol due to widespread flooding spawned by torrential rains brought on by tropical storm Quinta on Wednesday, the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said Friday.
