BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) has assured that the equipment needed to clear roads of land, rock and mudslides due to the expected onslaught of Typhoon Ompong have been pre-positioned.
“We have pre-positioned (equipment), especially non-food and food relief goods a long time ago,” said Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Regional Director Ruben Carandang, also chairman of the CDRRMC, during the council’s meeting here Wednesday.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said “Ompong” will likely affect Batanes, Cagayan and the northern provinces in the Cordillera region, like Kalinga and Apayao.
“If you go to our operations center you can see map of provinces where markings are placed, identifying the location of food and non-food supplies, search and rescue teams, the Philippine Army, police offices, other cluster needed for response operations,” Carandang said.
He said the dispatch of road-clearing equipment is fast and mostly roads were free from obstructions within three hours.
He attributed the fast response to the experience of the region where agencies involved in emergency response have already identified the areas where landslides usually occur.
Carandang said several monitoring equipment have been installed in different landslide-prone areas of the region as well as equipment that will measure water levels, which will help monitor the soil movement and water level. This will be used in determining the need for pre-emptive and force evacuation.
The Department of Science and Technology have also installed numerous early warning devices to aid in monitoring in the local level.
Carandang said two personnel from the OCD-Cordillera have been sent to each of the province of the region to monitor the situation and transmit the information to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council for immediate actions.
These personnel, equipped with satellite phones, are also tasked to coordinate with local police and the military.
“No one can really exactly predict (what will happen during typhoons) but there is no substitute to being prepared,” said Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan, also the Regional Development Council (RDC) chairman, during a press conference here.
He said agencies have given their commitment to work together and prepare.
“Let us pray that we will not have so much damage and casualties,” Domogan said.
“We are part of the area expected to be affected. We cannot prevent this but the residents at the low-lying communities have been advised to do preventive evacuation,” Apayao Governor Elias Bulut said on Tuesday.
He said the towns of Flora, Sta. Marcela, Pudtol and Luna, in the past had carried out preventive evacuation.
“So far, every time there is a strong typhoon, the people have been following the evacuation advises,” Bulut said in an interview on the sidelines of the RDC meeting in Bokod, Benguet.
The local DRRMC councils of Apayao have already convened and are ready, the governor said.
“There are already supplies of food and non-food (item) pre-positioned in evacuation centers in Apayao,” he added.
He also noted the good coordination with the local governments of Cagayan, Ilocos Norte and Isabela, which will aid them with supplies, considering Apayao’s distance from the regional offices in Baguio.
“We develop our own strategy that will be more applicable to our locality and beneficial to our residents,” Bulut added. **By Liza Agoot/PNA
