FIFTEEN people have died due to the shear line that caused landslides and flooding in the Davao region, mostly in the province of Davao de Oro, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said yesterday.
Davao de Oro declared a state of calamity on Saturday night.
The NDRRMC said eight of the 15 fatalities have been validated or confirmed. They died after a landslide buried a house in Mt. Diwata in Monkayo, Davao de Oro last Thursday. Five were confirmed injured in the incident.
In a progress report, the NDRRMC said five deaths in Davao de Oro are subject to validation, together with two deaths in Davao City.
Ednar Dayanghirang, director of the Office of Civil Defense in the Davao region, also reported 15 confirmed deaths in the region but provided a different breakdown.
Dayanghirang said 11 died in the Monkayo landslide; two in a landslide in Barangay Tagatto in Davao City; one due to a landslide in Maragusan town, also in Davao de Oro; and one in Davao Occidental although he did not say the cause of death.
The Monkayo municipal government, in its Facebook page, said the body of the 11th fatality in the Mt. Diwata landslide — Rommel Gumatin, 45 — was retrieved by search workers at around 1 p.m. last. Saturday.
It identified the 10 other fatalities in the landslide as one-year-old Arjay Gumatin; Dysna Gumatin, 3; Ailee Gumatin, 8; Hannah Gumatin, 9; Cristelle Gumatin, 10; Catherine Gumatin, 27; Marjomie Nenaria, 33; Ritchell Reboldad, 35; Elvera Saldua, 35; Agnes Bitoon, 44.
A report provided by Dayanghirang showed 112,999 families or 493,199 individuals in Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao Occidental, Davao Oriental and Davao City were affected.
Of the total, 6,470 families or 19,828 individuals are housed in evacuation centers.
Sixteen houses were reported to have been damaged, the report said.
Floods were reported in 225 barangays, the OCD Davao region said. There were 63 landslide incidents reported in 63 barangays, the report added.
Dayanghirang said floods in the region have already as the weather condition improved last Saturday.
RECOVERY
Dayanghirang said there was extensive damage to agriculture based on initial aerial survey last Friday but could not immediate give the initial amount.
“Rapid disaster and needs assessment reports are coming in,” he said a meeting today attended by representatives of government agencies in the region.
He said their efforts are now on “early recovery” stage. “The early recovery initiatives is part of our response,” said Dayanghirang.
The Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center said initial cost of damage to the agriculture sector has reached P64.07 million as of Friday, equivalent to 689 metric tons (MT) of goods.
The agency said damage and losses in rice amounted to P57.55 million, high-value crops to P5.41 million, and corn, P1.10 million.
DA said this was recorded in Davao del Norte and Davao de Oro.
STATE OF EMERGENCY
The Davao de Oro government announced on Saturday night that the province was being placed under a state of calamity ““due to severe flooding and landslides secondary to the shear line weather system.”
It said Gov. Dorothy Gonzaga approved the declaration on the recommendation of the provincial board.
“The passage of a declaration for a state of calamity allows expedient response and recovery efforts through the utilization of its Quick Response Fund and promptly address the needs of affected families and individuals,” it said.
Citing data from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, it said the initial cost of damage to agriculture was already at P130 million. It said it was expecting the figure to increase.
It also said 51,140 families or 182,653 individuals were affected by the calamity throughout the province.
Last Friday, Davao del Norte was also placed under state of calamity. Earlier reports said some 277,000 individuals were affected in the province and damage to agriculture and infrastructure in the area were placed at P39 million and nearly P1 million, respectively.
LPA IN MINDANAO
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA has monitored a low pressure area (LPA) south of Mindanao.
The LPA is not expected to intensify into a tropical depression in the coming days or enter the Philippine area of responsibility, said PAGASA weather specialist Daniel James Villamil.
“For the next 24 hours, the southern portion of Mindanao will possibly experience scattered rain showers and thunderstorm due to the trough or extension of a low pressure area outside our Philippine area of responsibility, particularly south of Mindanao,” Villamil said in a public weather forecast yesterday morning.
In a daily weather update, PAGASA said Soccsksargen will have cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorm due to the trough of the LPA.
PAGASA said Ilocos region, Cordillera Administrative Region, and Cagayan Valley will have party to cloudy skies with isolated light rains due to the northeast monsoon or amihan.
Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms due to localized thunderstorm. — With Jed Macapagal
