Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Samar Relief Operations

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Wednesday ordered speedy relief and rehabilitation operations in Eastern Samar following the landslides and flooding caused by relentless rains that have affected 8,973 families.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said additional calamity funds would be released when needed but at present existing resources that had been allocated to the Departments of Public Works and Highway, Social Welfare and Development, National Defense and other agencies should be used first.

Deputy Presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said the President wants all assets and resources of the government to be mobilized to respond to the disaster in Easter Samar and other provinces in Region 8.

Golez said Mrs Arroyo immediately initiated the provision of relief goods from the DSWD, Department of Health and other agencies with the help of the Philippine National Railways and the Philippine Air Force.

He said a C-130 carrying relief goods left Manila for Eastern Samar. Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro also flew to the province to monitor relief work.

Golez said Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral would follow Thursday and bring more relief goods. She would also oversee the activities in the evacuation centers.

"The President also directed all concerned agencies to fast track the damage and needs assessment to find out how much from the National Calamity Fund and which resources must be provided and prioritized to bring back normalcy to the region," he said.

Other instructions of the President include:
• The DPWH working round the clock to clear roads and
bridges to maintain lifelines ad communications;

• The DOH to attend to the medical needs of those
affected and by sending disease surveillance teams to evacuation centers;

• The DSWD to see to it that evacuees in evacuation
centers are in fit condition and provide adequate relief goods;

• The Office of the Civil Defense to work with all
concerned agencies including the regional, provincial and district disaster coordinating councils to ensure coordination efforts are in place; and

• The AFP and PNP to maintain order and security and
shall mobilize resources to assist and facilitate search and rescue efforts.

DSWD records showed that of the 8,973 families whose homes and farms were damaged by floods, 4, 050 are from Dolores; 2,556 from General MacArthur; 1,328 from Jipapad; 802 from Maslog; and 237 from Borongan City.

Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone, in a statement, said the province had already become isolated due to a landslide Sunday. He said it blocked a portion of the Wright-Taft Road, which links Eastern Samar to Samar.

Evardone said a farm-to-market road and two wooden bridges had already been washed out by floods. Damage to crops in Giporlos was placed at P500,000, he added.

Leyte Gov. Jericho Petilla, in a statement, said close to 400 families from Tacloban City, Palo and Dagami had been affected by floods but there is no need yet for any evacuation.

Samar Floods

BORONGAN, Eastern Samar, Philippines -- The floodwaters have ebbed and the north road has become accessible to trucks but the destruction wrought by the heavy rains in Eastern Samar province are just beginning to be seen.

The Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council has listed 29,983 households, or 149,495 persons as either those who have been evacuated, those whose homes were flooded, those who lost their kin or suffered injuries, or those whose properties were damaged. Damaged houses numbered 2,000. The death toll has risen to nine.

Governor Ben Evardone said that out of the province's 23 municipalities, only three experienced minimal damage.

He said the province would need millions of pesos to rehabilitate the affected areas, especially the far-flung villages.

"However, our priority now is to urgently deliver relief goods to displaced families," he said.

Many families have taken shelter in makeshift huts and others evacuated to gymnasiums while their houses remain submerged in floodwaters.

At least seven villages in the municipalities of Oras and Maslog are still submerged in water.

Evardone earlier requested the National Disaster Coordinating Council to send a C130 cargo plane to deliver relief goods.

He asked for Air Force helicopters to deliver relief goods to the flooded and isolated villages.

Pacita Gavan, the district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways, said workers have been working round the clock to build a temporary bridge in MacArthur town.

Gavan said a temporary footbridge was completed for pedestrian traffic.

The office of Eastern Samar Representative Teodolo Coquilla said relief goods were donated for the flood victims.

In Leyte, the town of Carigara was the hardest hit by the flooding.

Damage to agriculture and infrastructure reached P50 million, said Mayor Anlie Apostol.

"Our agriculture is down by at least 70 percent as our rice fields are under water. Our barangay, municipal and provincial road networks suffered damage," Apostol said, , the daughter of chief presidential legal counsel Sergio Apostol.

Flooding, with waters reaching more than three meters, affected 258 families, or 1,458 individuals, in four of the town's 49 villages, she said.

About 93 families or 492 persons from the two coastal villages, West Visoria and East Visoria, took shelter at the town gymnasium, she said.