23 November 2007
13th storm expected to hit land tomorrow
By Ephraim Aguilar and Jaymee Gamil, Inquirer Southern Luzon and TJ Burgonio in Manila
THE 13TH STORM TO menace the Philippines this year bore down on the Bicol region yesterday, prompting provincial authorities to order mass evacuations in various areas with a combined population of close to a million.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said more than 600,000 people were targeted for evacuation in his province, while Bicol civil defense chief Raffy Alejandro said another 200,000 needed to be moved out of harm’s way in Camarines Sur.
But the evacuation was proceeding at an apparently slow pace.
As of 5 p.m. yesterday, only a total of 9,437 families—or 45,923 people—had been evacuated in Albay, records from the Albay Disaster Coordinating Council and the Office of Civil Defense showed.
Another 2,275 people had fled to evacuation centers in Camarines Sur and 1,125 to shelters in Sorsogon, relief officials said.
“We cannot prevent disasters but certainly we can undertake measures to prevent the loss of lives and reduce damage to property,” said President Macapagal-Arroyo, who flew back home on Wednesday night after attending a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Singapore.
Signal No. 2
Tropical Storm “Mina” gained strength and developed into a full-blown typhoon yesterday as it swirled nearer to land, packing winds of 140 kph, with gusts of 170 kph.
As of 4 p.m., it was hovering over the Philippine Sea and could hit Catanduanes by Saturday, weather bureau experts said.
Aside from Catanduanes, Storm Signal No. 2 has been raised over Sorsogon, Albay, Burias island, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, southern Quezon and northern Samar.
Signal No. 1 was raised over Romblon, Marinduque, Batangas, Laguna, the rest of Quezon, Aurora, Rizal, Oriental Mindoro, Masbate, western Samar, eastern Samar and Biliran island.
‘Forced evacuation’
Salceda said that although Ms Arroyo’s order was for “a preemptive evacuation” of threatened areas, “what we are actually doing now is a forced evacuation of residents in lahar-prone areas.”
Those refusing to leave their houses would be made to sign a waiver that they chose not to be evacuated, he said.
If they refuse to sign the waiver, police will be authorized to put their names down on the blotter, he added.
Memories of “Reming”
The threat from Mina came almost a year to the day after Supertyphoon “Reming” ravaged the Bicol and Southern Tagalog regions with 195 kph center winds.
Reming killed 734 people, mostly in Bicol, and injured more than 1,000. It wrecked or damaged more than half a million houses.
“We have not yet recovered from Reming and now there is another typhoon coming,” one Albay resident said on television.
Hundreds of people who lost their homes during Reming are still homeless up to now, staying in cramped evacuation centers.
Back-to-back cyclones
Mina threatened the Bicol area shortly after Storm “Lando” pummeled the Visayas region, killing 11 people.
Vicente Manalo, senior Pagasa forecaster, urged residents on the path of floods and lahar from Mayon Volcano to evacuate.
Cedric Daep, head of the Albay provincial disaster coordinating committee, said residents of communities near the slopes of Mayon and those living near river channels were the first to be moved out.
Areas prone to mudflows or lahar include parts of the cities of Tabaco, Ligao and Legazpi and the towns of Guinobatan, Camalig, Daraga, Sto. Domingo and Malilipot.
Residents in the towns of Oas, Libon and Polangui, tagged flood-prone, were also ordered to flee.
Families in danger areas of Legazpi, Tabaco, Tiwi, Bacacay, Malinao, Malilipot, Sto. Domingo and Manito will also have to be moved out, Salceda said.
Children, women first
The governor warned that families living on the coast were at risk of storm surges. People living in houses made of light materials also must go, he said.
Salceda said women and children were the first to be evacuated while male members of the families were allowed to stay behind to watch over their houses until Storm Signal No. 3 is hoisted and then they must leave, too.
He said he had asked Ms Arroyo to release at least P67 million for Albay to buy food and water for the evacuees.
The province has run out of medicines, according to Dr. Julian Salazar, assistant provincial health officer.
Salceda said he had ordered prices of basic commodities monitored to prevent traders from taking advantage of the impending disaster by jacking up prices.
Misery, elsewhere
Classes have been suspended and public schools will be converted into shelters for the expected flood of thousands of evacuees.
As of 5 p.m., evacuation was still going on in the threatened provinces.
Salceda said 62 percent of the 53,000 people living in lahar-prone areas had already been evacuated.
He said more than 10,000 families still had to be moved out of flood-prone areas.
Pagasa said that even if Albay would not be directly hit, heavy rains and strong winds were still expected in the province.
As of 3:30 p.m. yesterday, the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council of Camarines Sur listed 32 flooded barangays in the towns of Magarao, Caramoan, Buhi and Bato.
Camarines Sur Gov. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jr. ordered forced evacuations in flooded and landslide-prone areas.
Evacuations were also going on in Sorsogon.
In Catanduanes, sea travel has been suspended, stranding hundreds of people in ports.
In a report to the regional disaster council, Catanduanes Gov. Joseph Cua said heavy rains had made “all water conduits overflowing and hillsides more prone to soil movements.”
Major roads in Catanduanes remained impassable following landslides and rockfalls triggered by Lando, Cua said.
The Viga national section road and some roads leading to and from Virac, San Miguel, Viga, Payo, Bagamanoc, Pandan, Caramoran, Pangsabloyon, Bato, Baras and Gigmoto were either closed or hardly passable due to landslides, he said.
In Camarines Norte, flooding has cut off the route along Maharlika Highway at Sitio Namunakan, Barangay Daguit, in the town of Labo.
Arnel S. Ferrer of the Public Safety Office and Emergency Management Office reported that the flooding was caused by heavy rains since Tuesday that made the river swell and spill over to the highway, stranding buses plying the superhighway to Bicol, the Visayas and Mindanao areas.
Mindoro also suffers
In Oriental Mindoro, the municipal council of Naujan declared the entire town under a state of calamity after knee-deep floodwaters brought by incessant rains inundated at least 16 villages.
Senior Supt. Agrimero Cruz, Oriental Mindoro police director, said the affected villages were mostly farming communities.
Despite the stormy weather yesterday, Ms Arroyo hopped from one city to another in Mindanao to inspect areas devastated by Lando and to check on preparations for the approach of Mina.
Upon her arrival late Wednesday from Singapore, she headed straight to Davao City on a Learjet, spending the night there.
Yesterday, she first flew to Cagayan de Oro City then proceeded by helicopter to Iligan City, Surigao City and Tandag in Surigao del Sur.
In a speech in Iligan City, she asked local government units to use 5 percent of their budget as mandated by law for typhoon preparations to minimize the loss of lives and damage to property.
More radars needed
Ms Arroyo also said she had directed the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to install additional Doppler radar stations in Central Visayas and Mindanao so that it could monitor and provide prompt and accurate weather advisories.
A Doppler radar is a key forecasting tool to detect the location, direction and speed of a typhoon, and to predict its path, among other things.
It uses radio waves to create pictures showing the location and intensity of precipitation, allowing scientists to measure the motion inside storms.
Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. ordered the activation of his office’s disaster preparedness plan.
DPWH regional director Orlando Roces said he had already deployed heavy equipment and maintenance crews in critical areas to respond to emergencies.
Almost P36 million worth of palay and corn were lost due to damage wrought by Lando, prompting the Department of Agriculture (DA) to offer assistance to affected farmers.
The DA Central Action Center said that palay losses amounted to P18 million while corn losses were estimated at P17.44 million. With reports from Michael Lim Ubac, Margaux C. Ortiz, Riza T. Olchondra, in Manila, and Juan Escandor Jr., Romulo Ponte, Bobby Labalan, and Marlon Ramos, Jaymee T. Gamil, Inquirer Southern Luzon and Richel Umel, Inquirer Mindanao
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