THE Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) have called on the local government units to strictly implement preemptive evacuation in preparation for the possible onslaught of Typhoon “Mankhut” or “Ompong” which is expected to traverse the region.
During the third quarter joint Regional Development and Peace and Order Council in Ambuclao, Benguet, newly-installed OCD-CAR director Ruben Carandang pointed out the importance of evacuating possible households which are situated in landslide-prone areas.
“During the passing of tropical storms Carding and Luis last month, Pagasa recorded 1,600 millimeters of rainfall while the average during that period based on past recordings is at 905 millimeters indicating the saturation of the soil. And with the passing of Ompong, there is a great possibility of soil erosion and landslides,” Carandang said.
In Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (Pagasa) earlier video conference briefing with the different Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils, the expected landfall is on September 12 which will pass through Cagayan and by September 15, the eye is expected to be over Batanes having a movement of 25 kilometers per hour with a diameter of 900 kilometers and a radius of 450 kilometers which indicates wide area of coverage.
“We are calling on local government leaders in the region to institute preemptive evacuation measures in areas which we identify as possible areas to experience soil erosions and landslides to prevent casualties due to the strong winds accompanied by heavy rainfall. We advise the people to follow preemptive evacuation measures the local government units will apply,” Carandang said.
Food and non-food items coming from Department of Social Welfare and Development-Cordillera have been strategically placed in various areas in the region for immediate distribution once needed, aside from equipment and facilities which have been pre-positioned to conduct clearing operations in areas which will be affected by soil erosions and landslides.
Carandang added communication facilities and equipment like high frequency or ham radios, satellite phones, cellular phone units have been prepositioned to ensure the constant communication between OCD Cordillera and its deployed personnel in the six provinces and two cities for the immediate relaying of vital information to the national government.
OCD Cordillera have been on red alert status and have started to monitor and track Typhoon Ompong while pre-coordination efforts among its partner agencies have been established to assure the delivery of support to areas which would be affected by the typhoon.