Gov’t fast tracks post-Lawin rehab and recovery phase

THE Cordillera Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council deployed six post – Disaster Needs Assessment(PDNA) teams in the six provinces of the region.

Their mission is to conduct field visits in close coordination with the different local government units of the super typhoon Lawin-affected communities and design rehabilitation and implementation plan.

Each PDNA team will have an Office of Civil Defense – Cordillera personnel and will be composed of representatives from CRDRRMC member agencies.

Final orientation meeting for the PDNA teams was held at the Department of Interior Local Government regional office, Thursday, to review their task and to provide them with the supplies and logistics they need, as well as for each team to formulate their plan of actions before their travel to their respective area of responsibility.

OCD assistant regional director Jose Valera said the PDNA teams’ mission would not be easy as they have only a timeline of two weeks given the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to expedite the crafting of rehabilitation and recovery plans so the government can act accordingly and effectively at the soonest possible time.

As of November 9, the CRDRRMC reported 113,842 families or 505,174 individuals affected; 37,805 partially damaged and 3,211 totally damaged houses; 16 deaths, four injured and one mission person in the region. Damages to agriculture and infrastructure have reached billions.

With the extent of damages, four of the five Cordillera provinces were declared under state of emergency.

In terms of response, around P84 million assistance from the National DRRM Council, through OCD, as well as from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, local government units and non – government organizations were already extended to the affected families and communities in the different parts of the region.

For the region’s rehabilitation and recovery plan, CRDRRMC chair and OCD regional director Andrew Alex Uy outlined the need to push harder for the “build back better principle” no matter how hard it is for Cordillera given its mountainous roads and terrains that are vulnerable to heavy rains and strong winds especially with super typhoons. (Carlito Dar/PIA–CAR)