Gov’t prepositions P195M relief in eastern Visayas

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Emergency relief resources amounting to P195 million have been prepositioned by the government in eastern Visayas, where Supertyphoon “Yolanda” is expected to make landfall at 5 a.m. Friday en route to the Visayan and Southern Tagalog regions.

These included standby funds (P36.97 million), 84,965 family food packs (worth P21.84 million), other food supplies and nonfood items (worth P136.45 million), Malacañang said on Thursday.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has additional standby funds amounting to P25 million, the Palace said.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma claimed that the government was better prepared this time, having learned from the lessons of Tropical Storm “Sendong” in 2011, Typhoon “Pablo” in 2012 and other storms.

Coloma said the key to the “zero-casualty” goal of President Aquino was a “mindset” that no one should be hurt or killed in times of calamities.

In Cebu City, however, people started rushing to buy flashlights, batteries, candles and even ready-to-eat food in anticipation of the onslaught of Yolanda.

Racks for canned goods, noodles, bread and even bottled water in groceries were empty on Wednesday when news reports came out that the supertyphoon might hit Cebu. Lines at the counters were unusually long.

In Albay province, some consumers were on “extraordinary buying spree,” said Rodrigo Aguilar, provincial director of the Department of Trade and Industry. But he said there was no panic buying with prices of basic commodities stable or reports of hoarding.

Coloma said that through Project Noah (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards), the government had a better handle of responding to emergencies brought about by natural calamities and other hazards.

Through the scheme, the government is able to monitor 18 major river systems throughout the country as part of early warning protocols that were not in place during Sendong, he said.

“We have vital [weather] instruments now and that is [part of] the modern system that we have put in place [for effective weather forecasting],” Coloma said. “Over the past three years, there has been a very substantial upgrade and modernization of our meteorological forecasting equipment and capability.”

Some 10,000 sacks of rice and 35,000 relief items have been distributed by military personnel to different municipalities in Albay, the Philippine Navy said on Thursday.

The Naval Forces Southern Luzon prepositioned the goods in the towns and packed the relief stocks together with uniformed services and civilian volunteers, said Navy spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Fabic.

Fabic also said M35 military trucks, as well as a trailer equipped with diving gears, rubber boats, portable generators and tents, were already on standby in the province.

The Philippine Army’s disaster response units nationwide, especially in the provinces where the typhoon is expected to hit, are on red alert.

Capt. Anthony Bacus, deputy chief of the Army public affairs office, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council had also requested the Army’s Civil Military Operations Group to dispatch its MLX4 man-pack loudspeakers, along with teams that could operate the equipment, to warn residents living near coastal areas.

The man-packs operate using a 12-volt dry cell battery that could last for 12 hours and cover some 500 meters, he added.—With reports from Nikko Dizon; Doris C. Bongcac, Inquirer Visayas; and Mar Arguelles, Inquirer S. Luzon