THE Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Davao Region (RDRRMC-Davao) in partnership with the Davao City government have sent a disaster response team to help the communities in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARRM) affected by Tropical Storm Paeng.
Louise Mark Cirunay, Office of Civil Defense-Davao Region (OCD-Davao) Chief of the Operations Section, said during the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Emergency Operations Center Meeting on Saturday, October 29, that the RDRRMC-Davao and the city had immediately mobilized its disaster response team on that day.
Cirunay said the city government had deployed 44 personnel composed of urban search and rescue, medical team, and fire auxiliary.
In addition, the city deployed 10 trucks with 10,000 food packs and other relief items from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The official also reported that OCD-Davao had also sent non-food items including 1,000 hygiene kits, 1,000 malong, and 800 blankets.
On Saturday morning, a send-off ceremony was held in front of the City Hall of Davao.
In a press release, the city said teams from the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO)-Emergency Medical Services, Fire Auxiliary Services, Urban Search and Rescue, City Health Office, City Social Welfare and Development Office, Ancillary Services Unit, City Engineer’s Office, Davao City Police Office, and Task Force Davao were deployed to assist in the relief and rescue operations.
The city government sent around 6,400 food packs, 8,000 bottled water, and 1,000 hygiene kits.
CDRRMO Head Alfredo Baluran said that the city will be deploying emergency response teams to bring aid and assistance to Cotabato City and Maguindanao Province.
On Sunday, October 30, DSWD-Davao Region deployed additional 10,000 non-food items to affected families in Soccsksargen Region.
As of Saturday, flash floods and landslides set off by torrential rains left at least 47 people dead, including in a hard-hit Maguindanao province, where as many as 60 villagers are feared missing and buried in a deluge of rainwater, mud, rocks, and trees
At least 42 people were swept away by rampaging floodwaters and drowned or were hit by debris-filled mudslides in three towns in Maguindanao from Thursday night to early Friday, said Naguib Sinarimbo, Barmm interior minister.
Five other people died elsewhere from the onslaught of Tropical Storm Paeng (Nalgae), which slammed into the eastern province of Camarines Sur early Saturday, the government’s disaster-response agency said.
But the worst storm impact so far was a mudslide laden with rainwater, rocks, and trees that buried dozens of houses with as many as 60 people in the tribal village of Kusiong in Maguindanao’s Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Sinarimbo told The Associated Press by telephone, citing accounts from Kusiong villagers, who survived the flash flood and mudslide.
Barmm chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim said in a Facebook post that the region was placed under a state of calamity following the onslaught of Paeng.
Ebrahim said that the declaration of a state calamity was agreed upon following a meeting between his cabinet and the Barmm Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (DRRMC).