NDRRMC: Over P800 million standby funds ready for ‘Florita’ victims

MANILA, Philippines — More than P800 million worth of standby funds are ready to aid those affected by Severe Tropical Storm Florita, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) disclosed Tuesday.

NDRRMC spokesperson Mark Timbal said they called for a meeting prior to Florita’s landfall attended by local government units (LGUs) and national government agencies as part of the preparation for the storm.

Currently, there are 480,000 units of family food packs available for deployment for those affected by the storm, according to Timbal.

“As of this time, ang ating family food packs na ready for deployment na pantulong sa LGUs natin sa kanilang operations ay nasa 480,000 units na pwede nating gamitin at meron pa tayong more than P800 million of standby funding na pwede nating maipangtulong,” Timbal said during the Laging Handa briefing.

(As of this time, we have 480,000 units of family food packs that are ready for deployment to help our LGUs in the operations. We also have more than P800 million in standby funds that we can use to help.)

The NDRRMC also instructed LGUs and national agencies to monitor the situation in areas recently hit by the earthquake, particularly in Northern Luzon, for possible landslides.

“Kung matatandaan, a lot of those areas na binabagyo ngayon ay niyanig ng earthquake. Mataas ang tsansa ng pagguho ng lupa dyan sa mga areas na yan lalo na dyan sa ating kabundukan,” Timbal said.

(If we can recall, a lot of these areas hit by the storm were also affected by the earthquake. There is a huge chance that there will be landslides in these areas.)

“Kaya ‘yung ating pinaalala sa ating mga kasamahan na disaster managers and LGUs, yung pagsasagawa ng maagap na evacuation activities, yung pag-imbentaryo sa mga relief items na kakailanganin,” he added.

(That’s why we have reminded our disaster managers and LGUs to conduct immediate evacuation activities and do an inventory of relief items needed.)

Five areas are currently under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal (TCWS) No. 3 due to Florita.

These are Northern portion of Ilocos Norte (Pagudpud, Dumalneg, Adams, Bangui, Burgos); Apayao; the southern portion of Babuyan Islands (Camiguin Is., Fuga Is., Dalupiri Is.); mainland Cagayan, and the northeastern portion of Isabela (Palanan, Divilacan, Maconacon, San Pablo, Tumauini, Cabagan, Santa Maria, Santo Tomas, Delfin Albano, Ilagan City, San Mariano).

READ: ‘Florita’ displaces 150 families in Cagayan, Isabela

je