12 areas in Luzon under Signal No. 1
TWELVE areas were placed under Signal No. 1 yesterday as typhoon “Betty” continued to approach Cagayan and Batanes provinces while authorities assured the public all preparedness measures are in place.
Betty is still not projected to make landfall in the north although it has been affecting areas in the Visayas and Luzon by enhancing the southwest monsoon.
Diego Mariano, chief of the Office of Civil Defense-Joint Monitoring Center, said over 1,200 families in the Western Visayas and Central Luzon regions have been evacuated due to the southwest monsoon enhanced by Betty.
As of 4 p.m yesterday, Betty was some 630 km east of Tuguegarao City in Cagayan, packing maximum sustained winds of 165 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 205 kph. It was moving west northwestward at 15 kph.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Betty will move west northwestward or northwestward within the next 36 hours “while gradually decelerating.”
It also said Betty “will likely become slow-moving to almost stationary by Tuesday while over the waters east of Batanes.” It will then move northward or north northeastward by mid Wednesday or Thursday towards the sea east of Taiwan. Betty will gradually weaken due to “increasingly unfavorable environment” and on Thursday, it is forecast to weaken into a severe tropical storm, PAGASA said.
Placed under Signal No. 1 were Batanes; Cagayan, including Babuyan Islands; Isabela; Apayao; Ilocos Norte; northern and central portions of Abra; Kalinga; eastern and central portions of Mountain Province; eastern and central portions of Ifugao; northern and central portions of Aurora; Quirino and northeastern portion of Nueva Vizcaya.
In a bulletin issued at 5 p.m. yesterday, PAGASA said areas under Signal No. 1 may begin experiencing strong winds Sunday night or today.
“Wind signal No. 2 remains the most likely highest wind signal that may will be hoisted while Wind Signal No. 3 remains the reasonable worst-case scenario,” PAGASA said.
PAGASA said the southwest monsoon, which was enhanced by Betty, may bring occasional gusts reaching strong breeze to near gale strength starting last night or this morning in most of Visayas, eastern portion of Central Luzon, eastern and southern portion of southern Luzon and north portion of Mindanao, and possibly in western portion of Luzon on Tuesday or Wednesday.
PREEMPTIVE EVACUATION
Leon Rafael Jr, director of Office Civil Defense-Cagayan Valley, ordered the chairpersons of provincial, city and municipal disaster risk reduction and management councils in the region to effect preemptive evacuation in areas with high susceptibility to flooding, landslides and those that are assessed to be “high-risk areas.”
Rafael requested the interior department “to monitor and conduct close coordination with the LGUs regarding the conduct of preemptive evacuation.”
Rafael urged agencies, including the Armed Forces and the PNP, to coordinate with the local disaster risk reduction and management councils (LDRRMCs) offices and assist in the conduct of the preemptive evacuation.
He said LGUs should also strictly implement no sail, no fishing and no river activities in coastal areas and along the Cagayan river and its tributaries during inclement weather and gale.
Mariano said 1,082 of the evacuated families are from Negros Occidental, 11 in Antique, 36 in Capiz and eight in Angeles City in Pampanga.
Mariano said the OCD has yet to receive information about evacuation near Betty’s path.
“The typhoon is still far. Our problem now is habagat (southwest monsoon),” said Mariano.
Nevertheless, Mariano said local government units near Betty’s path have been authorized to effect preemptive evacuation of residents near hazard areas.
“Definitely there is plan to evacuate but that’s the call of LGUs (local government units)… LGUs are assessing when to do the evacuation, they don’t want to make it too early or too late,” said Mariano.
Mariano noted that the property and livelihood of the residents are being considered in effecting a preemptive evacuation.
Mariano said all measures on the ground are already in place to mitigate the possible effects of Betty.
“We’ve alerted our response teams and food packs are already packed and prepositioned…
Our responders are already alerted, on standby,” said Mariano.
EVERYTHING READY
Mariano said government agencies under the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council have made their own preparations, including the OCD and Department of Social Welfare and Development.
“Our rescuers, responders from local DRRMOs (disaster risk reduction and management offices), personnel from the AFP, PNP, PCG and BFP are on alert and on standby,” said Mariano.
He said the OCD has prepositioned P108 million worth of non-food items. “We have also put on standby P244 million plus in quick response fund. We are ready for any eventuality, for the close approach of typhoon Betty,” said Mariano.
Yasser Sorial, operations chief of the Mountain Province provincial disaster risk reduction and management office (PDRRMO), said the province was experiencing “sunny weather” as of yesterday morning.
“Our equipment are ready, we checked them all. Food packs are prepositioned,” said Sorial, when asked of their preparations for Betty.
Soria said municipal disaster risk reduction and management offices (MDRRMOs) in the provinces have been advised to effect preemptive evacuation “especially in the areas in the list of MGB (Mines and Geosciences Bureau), those susceptible to landslide.”
Arthur Liwliwa, PDRRMO chief of Ifugao, said the province was experiencing fair weather yesterday morning but they are ready for the possible effects of Betty.
“Food packs are ready (for distribution)… Everything is ready,” said Liwliwa.
Aparri, Cagayan administrator Mary Joy Mary Joy Tadili said they have yet to experience winds and rains due to Betty.
As to preparations for Betty, Tadili said they may start preemptive evacuation of about 3,000 to 5,000 residents in 15 barangays.
“We are a coastal town so those who are near the sea and river are our priority for evacuation,” said Tadili. He said evacuation centers have been already ready for those who will be evacuated.
Batanes PDRRMO officer-in-charge Roldan Esdicul, said the province started feeling winds and rains as yesterday morning.
Esdicul said the province has made preparations for Betty. He said they have initially readied 850 food packs for those who will be affected by the typhoon.
As to preemptive evacuation, Esdicul said: “As of now, we still don’t have preemptive evacuation but we are ready if it’s needed. We’re going to know maybe tomorrow if its needed.”
Ruelie Rapsing, chief of Cagayan PDRRO, said the province has been experiencing cloudy weather yesterday morning. “We’re expecting to feel the effect of Betty later today,” he said.
Rapsing said they activated “purok” disaster brigades in the barangays on Wednesday last week.
Caritas Philippines, advocacy arm of the Catholic Church, said it is closely monitoring communities and dioceses projected to be affected by Betty.
As part of its preparations, Caritas has prepositioned relief goods “at different levels, from national down to regional clusters to our social action centers,” said Jing Henderson, coordinator of Caritas Philippines – Partnership Development Unit.
Several bishops offered prayers for the safety of the affected people.
RICE, CORN CROPS
The Department of Agriculture said 234,145 hectares of rice and corn crops in in the Cordillera Administrative Region, and Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon regions may be affected by Betty.
The agency said its regional field offices have activated operations centers; continued dissemination of localized advisories to local government units, farmers and fisherfolk; and prepositioned seeds, fertilizer, drugs and biologics in safe storage facilities.
The DA said 681,205 bags of rice seeds, 21,192 bags of corn seeds, and 20,454 kilograms of assorted vegetable seeds have been prepositioned.
The agency added fingerlings and assistance from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources will be available to affected fisherfolk; a loanable amount of up to P25,000 payable in three years at zero interest, from the Survival and Recovery Loan Program of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council; and a quick response fund for the rehabilitation of affected areas. — With Jed Macapagal and Gerard Naval
