Sarangani Province Situation Update #3

As of 4pm, June 14

Only 37 fishermen are still unaccounted for from the 61 missing mostly from Maasim as of 10am today, according to a consolidated report of PDRRMO which also updated the number of rescued/survivors at 307.

The number of casualties from the June 12 flashflood and storm surge remain at two.

Search and retrieval operations are still ongoing in beaches along Sarangani Bay and up to Balut Island by teams from Maasim MDRRMO, the Coast Guard and the Navy.

According to Glan MDRRMO, the total number of affected families in four barangays hit by flashflood is 765 families with 3,825 dependents.

These are from barangays Poblacion, Pangyan, Cross, Big Margus and Laguimit. Most of the victims’ households were swept away by the strong current and their fixtures and furniture and other belongings destroyed.

Glan Mayor Victor James Yap Sr. led this morning a convoy of medical team, government employees and trucks loaded with rice for distribution to the affected barangays.

This afternoon, the DSWD regional office 12 released a truckload of family food packs, tarpaulin and bedsheets as augmentation to flashflood victims in Glan.

In an “assessment of the incident”, Capt. George Ursabia, Commander of Coast Guard District South Eastern Mindanao (CGDSEM), told the PDRRMO today that there was “no storm” on June 12, “just sudden change of weather and sea conditions due to the shallow LPA 100 kms south of Mindanao at the time that apparently induced the southwest monsoon.

“Accordingly, it was so sudden that the change of sea condition was so abrupt, from calm to rough, with a wind of approximately 40 kts which lasted for more or less 25 hours (from 120100H June to 130200H June). Most of the fishermen were out at sea as early as in the evening of 11 June when the sea and weather were normal, not expecting such unusual change (of weather and sea conditions) as there were no signs of such in a progressive manner. Since yesterday morning, weather in the said area has improved after the shallow LPA went up somewhere in Surigao. In short, it was an unusual phenomenon that those out at sea already were caught flat footed.” (Sarangani Province/Information Office)