Jaldon: City needs more rubber boats

DAVAO City needs more rubber boats to effectively carry out rescue operations in times of disasters like floods, Central 911 head Emmanuel Jaldon admitted.

During Monday's City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Center (CDRRMC) post evaluation and assessment meeting, Jaldon said water assets are very important since these are the only equipment that can rescue trapped residents as waters swell.

"We need to increase the number of our rubber boats," Jaldon said.

The City Government of Davao only has seven rubber boats and these were all dispatched to rescue trapped residents during the flooding in the city Sunday.

Two of the rubber boats were damaged during the rescue efforts.

Aside from the water assets, Magno G. Adalin, Public Safety and Security Command Center (PSSCC) chief, said the city also needs more life vests and ropes for the rescuers.

"We have a lot of manpower but wala silang gamit," Adalin said.

He said when the water started to swell to rooftop level, rescuers had a hard time extricating residents from their homes.

Even the dumptrucks of the City Engineer's Office (CEO) cannot drive through high levels of water, according to Adalin.

CEO used a total of 23 dump trucks during the rescue operation on Sunday. The office said there were no reported damage on public infrastructure as a result of the flooding.

Meanwhile, the number of affected families increased by 50 percent based on the data from the CDRRMC yesterday morning.

From 5,165 families or 28,525 individuals, the council recorded 10,280 families with 35,360 dependents in 17 barangays.

There were four houses swept away, one in Purok 25, Teacher's Village in Calinan and three in Tamugan. A 10-wheeler truck was also swept by river waters.

Jaldon said they received reports that one died, one was injured and two people are missing but they are still verifying these.

Val Turtur, City Agriculturist Office (CAO) head, said the flooding damaged agriculture in 242 hectares with 114 farmers in barangays Tigatto and Waan affected.

Maria Luisa Bermudo, City Social Sciences and Development Office head, said the city is giving cash assistance to affected families.

Bermudo said P10,000 will be distributed per family whose houses were destroyed and P5,000 for those whose houses were damaged. All the affected families will receive P3,000.

"The data is still subject to validation and verification," she said.