Text messaging saved lives in Camarines Sur

Text messaging saved lives in Camarines Sur when Tropical Storm “Juaning” was pummeling the province, according to disaster and provincial officials.

The province registered just one fatality—a victim of heart attack and not of flooding or landslide, which claimed the lives of several people in other provinces.

The death toll from Juaning on Thursday rose to 35, mostly in the Bicol region, as the weather disturbance left the Philippines, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). Twenty-five are missing.

While the country is still reeling from the devastation left by Juaning, Tropical Depression “Kabayan” intensified into a storm after swirling into the Philippine area of responsibility Thursday afternoon.

The storm was spotted 1,000 kilometers east southeast of Catarman, Northern Samar province, at around 4 p.m. Thursday, and was too far to directly affect any part of the country, the weather bureau said.

In Camarines Sur, messages sent to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) by community-based volunteers at the height of flooding in the Rinconada district guided rescue workers in locating people isolated by floods or those missing at sea.

“I received at past 10 p.m. on July 25 a text message that Eduardo and Nenita Rull were trapped on the roof of the high school staff house in San Miguel, Nabua, Camarines Sur. Responding to the message of distress, we immediately sent rescue workers and saved them,” said Lucena Bermeo, the head of the PDRRMC secretariat.

Coordination

Another message of distress was sent to Bermeo from Nabua resulting in the rescue of members of the De la Torre family who were immediately rescued from their flooded house, Bermeo said.

Bermeo said it was not only people in distress who made use of text messaging to alert people. The PDRRMC itself made use of text messages for fast coordination with disaster officials in other provinces.

Bermeo said that when the secretariat received a report that a fisherman was missing in Caramoan, she directed PDRRMC personnel to send text messages to barangay officials in coastal areas about the fisherman.

In less than 12 hours the barangay captain of Tamiawon, Garchitorena, Camarines Sur, was able to locate the fisherman who was forced to dock at the village because of rough seas, Bermeo said.

“Then, we received a report from action officer Neil Dianela that three fishermen from Garchitorena were missing on Monday night. I likewise reported the incident to the Office of Civil Defense and coordinated through calls and text messages with the PDRRMC in Catanduanes,” she said.

Bermeo said that on Tuesday, the PDRRMC of Catanduanes notified her that three fishermen with the names and descriptions that the secretariat had provided were rescued in Pandan town. She identified the rescued fishermen from Garchitorena as Romeo Rodena, 58, Allan Camana, 38, and Nestor Aquino, 57.

Refuge

Bermeo said the PDRRMC of Catanduanes was advised to give refuge to Rodena, Camana and Aquino until their return to Camarines Sur through the regular commercial sea vessel going to Tabaco City.

Bermeo’s group was also able to help through text messages residents of Barangay Luluwan, Balatan, Camarines Sur isolated by floodwaters.

“There was no food while some 200 evacuees were waiting for relief assistance. Since we cannot immediately respond with our physical presence, we asked the barangay captain to negotiate with a store there so that families could eat,” she said.

Guarantee

Bermeo said the secretariat was able to provide residents with food “because we were able to talk with the store owner that the provincial government would pay for goods that the families will consume.”

Camarines Sur Gov. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jr. also acknowledged the use of text messages during emergencies.

Messages informed Villafuerte about a possible rock slide that endangered the lives of the villagers whose houses faced a hill in landslide-prone Barangay Sta. Rosa del Sur in Pasacao.

Villafuerte said he did not lose time in ordering the evacuation of 51 families to a center far from the danger zone.

He said the timely rescue of families in distress due to flooding and close coordination with the Army and the Philippine National Red Cross prevented fatalities.

Villafuerte said the lone casualty in the province died of a heart attack.

He said that as of Thursday, 33,067 families in 206 barangays in 28 towns were affected by the flooding. A total of 5,976 individuals were still staying in evacuation centers.

Affected people

The NDRRMC said Juaning affected 728,554 people in 15 provinces. A total of 25,758 families, or 115,369 persons, were taken to evacuation centers.

The NDRRMC counted 52 survivors, including 16 fishermen who were plucked from waters off Marinduque after their fishing boat FB Hope Cristie sank.

Among the fatalities were two police officers—Jeff Domingo and Ricky Angwit—who were buried alive while trying to extricate a stalled government vehicle in a landslide in Aguinaldo town, Ifugao province. Two other civilians, Bo-oy Machingi and Dino Nabban, also died in the landslide.

Pagasa assailed

Officials in Quezon province joined those in Albay in lambasting the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) for its alleged inconsistent warning signals and forecast.

“When Pagasa raised Signal No. 2 in Quezon, our evacuees were already returning to their destroyed villages which were earlier hit by Juaning without any warning from them. That’s how inconsistent these government forecasters are,” Mulanay Mayor Joselito Ojeda said.

Ojeda said his town, located at the tip of the Bondoc Peninsula, started experiencing howling winds before dawn on Tuesday.

“I immediately tuned in to Manila radio stations for any weather advisories and even called my reporters at my radio station in Lucena but there were no warnings or signals from Pagasa,” said Ojeda, who owns dwKI-FM.

Ojeda said he immediately convened the local disaster risk reduction and management council.

Raging Mulanay River

A 13-year-old boy drowned in the raging Mulanay River of the town and more than 2,000 residents were evacuated to the municipal hall and barangay centers in five coastal villages hit by floods, according to Ojeda.

The death toll in southern Luzon has risen to 26, with the drowning of two young brothers in Masbate, the Bicol regional disaster council reported.

Two fishermen from Baras, Catanduanes province, and three from Rapu-Rapu, an island town in Albay, were reported missing.

Without electricity

Many parts of Albay remained without electricity and water over the last three days. Classes were still suspended in affected areas across the province, including those in Legazpi City.

In Masbate province, 13 crew members from a fishing boat that capsized in Sibuyan Sea early Monday were rescued on Wednesday in the waters off the town of Balud.

Engineers were conducting clearing operations in sections of the Maharlika Highway covering Albay and Camarines Sur that were rendered impassable due to floodwaters, mudflow, volcanic boulders and fallen trees.

Portions of the Maharlika Highway in the towns of Oas, Polangui, Pioduran and Libon were still impassable. Part of the road from Legazpi City to Tiwi town in Albay was also impassable due to mudflow and rock boulders that cascaded from the slopes of Mt. Mayon.

Juaning spared provinces in Cagayan Valley, the Cordillera, the Ilocos region and Central Luzon from widespread devastation and did not leave major damage to property, infrastructure and crops.

Reports from the Office of Civil Defense in the Cordillera said rain triggered landslides in Asipulo and Lagawe towns in Ifugao province buried houses there although no one was reported hurt.

Landslides also blocked eight sections of the Banaue-Mayoyao-Aguinaldo-Isabela Road, and six sections of the Banaue-Hungduan-Benguet Road.

State of calamity

A state of calamity was declared in Quirino province. Juaning’s heavy rains submerged corn farms and banana plantations. Strong winds also toppled electric posts and trees.

In Mt. Province, a bridge linking the province to Ilocos Sur provincce was ordered closed for repairs.

The portion of Halsema Highway leading to Bontoc, Mt. Province, was opened to traffic on Thursday after boulders that littered the road were cleared.

But government engineers were still clearing sections of the Mt. Province-Nueva Vizcaya Road and the Mt. Province-Cagayan Road on Thursday.

In Benguet, landslides blocked sections of the Itogon-Dalupirip Road and the Acop-Kapangan-Kibungan-Bakun Road.

In Isabela, at least 14 bridges in the province were rendered impassable when the Cagayan, Pinacanauan and Magat rivers swelled due to heavy rains. With reports from DJ Yap, TJ Burgonio and Jerome Aning in Manila; Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Jonas Cabiles Soltes, Mar S. Arguelles and Rey M. Nasol, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Vincent Cabreza, Villamor Visaya Jr. and Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon; and Tonette Orejas and Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon; and AFP