3,917 families displaced in DavSur, Davao Occidental

DAVAO. Office of the Civil Defense-Davao Regional Director Manuel Luis M. Ochotorena bared the latest updates on the operations of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) during the press conference, Monday, October 4 at the SM City Davao. (Photo by Roberto A. Gumba Jr.)
DAVAO. Office of the Civil Defense-Davao Regional Director Manuel Luis M. Ochotorena bared the latest updates on the operations of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) during the press conference, Monday, October 4 at the SM City Davao. (Photo by Roberto A. Gumba Jr.)

A TOTAL of 3,917 families or 18,384 individuals were displaced in the earthquake-hit areas in Davao del Sur and Davao Occidental, based on the report of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Davao Region (RDRRMC-Davao) as of Sunday, November 3.

The majority of the affected families are in Davao del Sur, wherein the number of displaced families due to damaged houses reached a total of 2,717 or equivalent to 13,575 individuals. Meanwhile, the number of families which were forced or preemptively evacuated totaled to 1,191 or 4,764 individuals.

In Davao Occidental, there are five families or 25 individuals whose houses were damaged and four families or 20 individuals were preemptively evacuated.

In a press conference Monday, October 4, Office of the Civil Defense-Davao Region (OCD-Davao) Regional Director and RDRRMC Chair Manuel Luis M. Ochotorena said among the badly-hit areas are the towns of Magsaysay, Bansalan, and Matanao.

He said these families are currently staying in tents near their houses which were either damaged or destroyed.

In their latest report, 2,302 houses were damaged and 453 were destroyed.

“Magkaroon mi og meeting with the NHA (National Housing Authority) and the mayor of Magsaysay, pag-usapan namin yung relocation sites nila (We will have a meeting with the NHA and the mayor of Magsaysay and discuss the possible relocation site). It will be the NHA who will provide the relocation site,” he said.

The agency also recorded six deaths, two missing persons, and one injured.

Ochotorena said recovering the two missing people who were reportedly buried during a landslide in Upper Bala, Magsaysay have become challenging because of rains.

“Dili pa ma-recover kay natakluban man gud ni sa landslide (We cannot recover them because they are covered during the landslide). We cannot operate on search and rescue kay sige pa’g ulan (because it has been raining),” he said.

Ochotorena also revealed that while the OCD-Davao has extended more than P12-million assistance in the form of food, non-food items, and financial assistance, they are still struggling to immediately release aid because of the requirements.

He said OCD has released P60,000 so far and they still have about P1.5 million in their quick response funds on standby.

“Daghan man gud kaayo’g requirements (There are a lot of requirements needed to comply). This is what keeping us from giving immediately the amount,” he said.

He added that since the quick response funds of the Local Government Units (LGUs) have depleted, the funds are taken from their budget.

For the structures, there are a total of 134 partially damaged and one totally damaged school building, 41 partially damaged and one totally damaged buildings, and 37 partially damaged bridges.

Ochotorena added the numbers will still increase as soon as they will receive the report of the Damage Assessment and Needs Assessment Analysis (DANA) team on Friday, November 8.

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