Millennium Ark: Hot News

December 7, 2006
Sun Star, Philippines

MALACANANG on Wednesday said it is mulling the eviction of families living within the hazard zones of Mayon volcano and banning of living in those areas.

“It appears that the best option is the permanent evacuation of all the families living within the hazard zones of the Mayon Volcano. We cannot allow the threat of such a tragic incident to hover endlessly over thousands of people who are obviously in danger every time a weather disturbance hits the area,” said Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye.

Bunye, who is also Presidential spokesman, said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants to end the “perennial cycle of death and destruction” and is willing to allocate the resources needed to carry out the permanent evacuation.

This, as the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said the death toll from the mudslide and super typhoon Reming increased to 543 persons as of Wednesday afternoon, 17 more from last Tuesday’s figure.

Of the figure, 450 persons perished in the mudflow and flashfloods in the province of Albay while the rest died in floods and of other storm-related causes in the provinces of Quezon, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Camarines Sur and Catanduanes.

NDCC executive officer and concurrent Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) administrator Glenn Rabonza also said the number injured victims also rose to 1,861 while the number of missing has gone up to 740 so far.

Bunye said the mudflows in the Bicol area is “another painful lesson” that calls for “clear-cut decisions” to save lives in the future in disaster-prone areas in the country.

Arroyo has called the Bicol tragedy “another Guinsaugon” when she conducted an aerial inspection of the area Tuesday morning, referring to the Southern Leyte landslide that killed hundreds of people early this year.

Arroyo declared a state of national calamity and ordered the release of P1 billion for the relief and rehabilitation of the affected places.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said there would be a “firmer policy” on mitigating measures and on moves to alleviate the conditions of the citizens adversely affected by super typhoon Reming.

Ermita said people living in the shadows of Mayon should also understand, without being reminded by authorities, the eminent danger that they are in once heavy rains that last for hours loosen volcanic materials.

He asked militant groups who are asking for an audit of foreign donations not to politicize the tragedy.

Ermita said government has a mechanism for receiving, managing, accounting and auditing local and foreign funds. “It doesn’t have to come from such a militant group to tell us what to do as far as the management and safeguarding these funds are concerned,” he said.

He assured that foreign and local donations will go to the affected folks and not to the campaign kitty of politicians.

Meanwhile, the number of affected was pegged at 358,480 families or 1,649,734 persons so far, all from the affected Bicol and Southern Tagalog regions. Of the number, 17,260 families or 84,457 are in evacuation centers.

Quoting reports from field offices, the NDCC said it has accounted an initial P608.35 million in damages to properties and infrastructure. Catanduanes accounted for more than half of the damages, he said.

Reming has rendered the entire Bicol region and portions of Quezon, Batangas, Laguna and Cavite provinces without electricity. According to Rabonza, parts of the Bicol region have been already energized as of Wednesday afternoon.

He said Camarines Norte had been energized last Monday, except for the town of Capalonga, adding that Naga City was due to be energized Wednesday. He said the rest of the regions were still without electricity.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said infrastructure damage caused by Reming in Bicol and Southern Luzon regions could reach P1 billion.

Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane said their inspection of infrastructure damage caused by Reming showed that majority of the main roads are passable except for Madella Road, Km. 301+000 to Km. 311+000, Barangay Caloocan, Dipaculao due to landslides and road cuts in Didiawan; and the Bongabon road in Baler Aurora due to landslides and swollen river at Villa 2.

The estimated cost of damages in Region 3, he said, is pegged at P6 million.

In Region 4 A, all roads are passable except for intermittent sections of about three kilometers of the Batangas-Tabangao-Lobo road near the boundary of Batangas City due to seaside scouring. The estimated cost of damages in the area, including school buildings is P35 million.

In Region IV-B, the East Coast Road, Km 190-Km 205 in Southern Mindoro remain impassable due to a landslide and the Dr. Damian Reyes Memorial Road Marinduque has also been damaged by landslides.

In Region V, on the other hand, which was hardest hit by Reming, all roads are passable except for the Legaspi-Tabaco-Tiwi Road, Daang Maharlika, Km 521, and
Camalig-Comun-Gapo secondary road, which are all hardly passable. The estimated cost of damage to infrastructure in the area is estimated at P700 million.

Ebdane said he has deployed dump trucks, bulldozers, and other heavy equipment to the typhoon-devastated area to conduct road clearing operations. (JMR/VR/MSN/Sunnex)

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