BAGUIO CITY– After almost 15 days of continuous rains, the government agencies primarily involved in disaster response in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) are ready for any eventuality.
In a press conference on the State of the Region Address (SORA) on Tuesday, the officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said they monitor the situation on the ground prior to the rainy season.
“We are ready 365 days a year because you don’t know when landslides will happen in the Cordillera due to the mountainous terrain,” DPWH regional director Tiburcio Canlas said.
He said aside from personnel regularly deployed in the field to respond to road clearing and road closure operations due to rock or landslides, heavy equipment are also pre-positioned in strategic locations region-wide.
The DPWH is also assisted by private contractors that provide equipment in areas where government logistics are not available, clearing roads of obstructions and debris.
Annually, the region keeps track of the amount of rainfall received in the region as a factor in deciding mandatory evacuation, especially in areas declared as landslide-prone.
Neriza Villanueva, DSWD-CAR information officer, said the department maintains a steady supply of food and other relief packs in their warehouses in the provinces.
“We replenish the supplies, regularly assuring that there are about 500 packs at the warehouse which are ready for distribution to victims of calamities,” Villanueva said.
She said the DSWD maintains warehouses in the provinces due to their distance from the regional office in Baguio City. Most warehouses are inside military camps.
Villanueva said they have food packs good for two to three days for a family with five members. They also have sleeping kits, hygiene kits, and new clothes.
Meanwhile, DILG regional director Marlo Iringan said all the six provincial local government (LGU) units including the two cities in the Cordillera have formed their disaster risk reduction management councils, which are present in the 77 municipalities and the 1,176 barangays.
Iringan said all local DRRM councils are guided by a DRRM plan which has been approved.
He said the DRRM councils are regularly capacitated with training on disaster response, readiness, and resiliency. The LGUs also have their DRRM funds which are equivalent to 5 percent of the annual budget.
In most areas of the region, there are also volunteers who aid the DRRM council down to the barangay level.
Albert Mogol, Cordillera DRRM council (DRRM) chairman and Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) regional director, said they have placed the region on an alert level due to the rains, which may trigger land and rock slide.
“We are advising the residents to be mindful of their surroundings and do preventive evacuation if they live in a landslide susceptible area,” Mogol said.
The Cordillera DRRM also advised the residents in the region to be on alert and ready to evacuate as the rainfall has surpassed the threshold.
“The general public, especially those who are living near mountain slopes and low-lying areas, are advised to be on alert and ready for evacuation if the situation warrants and when local authorities advise them to,” the public weather advisory at 1 p.m. on Tuesday said.
Last Sunday, a local was killed in Buguias, Benguet after their house was hit by a landslide.** PNA
