DAVAO DEL NORTE, January 15, 2013 (PIA) – The people of Davao del Norte has once again proven that genuine preparedness is the key to survival and security in the midst of calamity.
No casualty was reported in the wake of massive flooding caused by the low pressure area (LPA) that so far affected 9,334 families or 43,737 individuals in six municipalities and one city of the province.
The floods also damaged an initial P110.3-million worth of crops and livestocks, as well as, P8 million infrastructures.
While Most of the 16,329 evacuees already returned to their homes, over 1,000 residents still remained in evacuation centers in the municipality of Carmen, as their homes remain underwater.
The provincial government has also distributed about 5,000 food packs to the affected families, as augmentation to the relief operation held by the respective LGUs.
Though the flashfloods destroyed their crops and some of their properties, the constituents were yet grateful that no member of their households perished in the deluge.
Ana Pino of Barangay Mabaus in Carmen town, one of the hardly hit areas, said residents readily followed when barangay officials carried out preemptive evacuation.
“Bago pa dumating ang baha, nag-evacuate na kami,” she told a big TV network.
Barangay Captain Romeo Ubial revealed his constituents already know that to do during such calamities, owing to the Oplan ANDAM program that recently rolled off in their barangay.
The provincial government launched last December the expanded Oplan A.N.D.A.M. (Advocacy for Natural Disaster Awareness and Management) program to increase the people’s resilience to disasters.
The initiative is teaching communities in danger simple technologies that reduce their vulnerability and help them build back better.
Romulo Tagalo, Executive Director of the Joint Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Councils said the valuable experience of the province during the onslaught of Super Typhoon Pablo in 2012 and the succeeding LPAs is the turning point in the preparedness campaign of the province.
He said people in worst affected communities, particularly those living along the river banks, now positively respond to issue the first instance of warnings issued by the local officials.
“The directive of Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario is to attain zero casualty,” he said.
He also underscored the early warning system installed by the province to boost its DRRM efforts.
Automatic rain gauges and water-level monitoring system installed in the upstream enabled the PDRRM-Operation Center to immediately send warnings to the affected LGUs, allowing them enough time to alert communities at risk.(noel baguio/davnor pio)
No comments:
Post a Comment