The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRMMC) on Wednesday, Dec. 22, denied allegations that it has instructed the Philippine National Police (PNP) to stop releasing its counting of casualties related to typhoon “Odette.”
“No such request / instruction / order was issued by the NDRRMC to the PNP or any agency,” NDRRMC spokesperson Mark Timbal told reporters.
The NDRRMC came under fire for its supposed late reporting on the number of casualties in the aftermath of Odette.
The PNP has listed 375 Odette-related deaths while the NDRRMC has so far recorded 177 deaths, of which only 11 have been confirmed while the rest were undergoing validation.
Timbal explained that the NDRRMC was banking on the report submitted to them by the local DRRM councils before they finalize the list of casualties. However, since power and signal were down in many affected areas, the local DRRM councils could not immediately relay their report to the NDRRMC Operations Center.
“The reporting process originates from the local DRRM level to the regional DRRM council then to the NDRRMC OpCen. We don’t count information from other sources except those that have been officially communicated to us by the DRRM councils,” he said.
He said their reporting process “involves the continued verification of the occurrence and details of the incident and involved parties as well as the validation of the circumstance of the demise of the victims.”
This was different from the reporting of the PNP where the information directly come from ground reports obtained by the police personnel which are then reported to Police Regional Offices (PROs) and to the National Headquarters in Camp Crame.
“We don’t do the ‘thorough counting’ in the later part of the operations. The verification activities are embedded as requirements of the process,” he said.
Nonetheless, Timbal assured that the data provided by other agencies are used as a basis of their projection as to how many casualties are expected in their validated tally.
“Their numbers are being used by the NDRRMC as a projection of how many possible casualties we can expect to encounter in the ongoing operations as well as the areas that are in need of assistance,” he said.
Relief operations continue
Meanwhile, NDRRMC Executive Director Ricardo Jalad said relief operations in the affected areas were ongoing.
In a Cabinet meeting with President Duterte Tuesday night, Jalad said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has utilized its assets and personnel to deliver relief goods to typhoon-stricken areas in Visayas and Mindanao.
A Boeing 737 cargo airplane was also chartered by the NDRRMC to serve the logistical requirements of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DOH) and other departments sending their relief goods to the affected areas.
Sea vessels from the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard were also utilized to deliver supplies, equipment, and food including PCG’s BRP Gabriela Silang, BRP Sindangan, and BRP San Agustin; and PN’s BRP Iwak and BRP Ivatan.
“The DSWD and World Food Programme also making use of their wing vans. We also make use of the sea assets of Philippine Coast Guard and Philippine Navy and the air assets of the Philippine Air Force,” Jalad said.
In total, the NDRRMC has already forwarded 16,500 kilograms of family food packs from DSWD using the Boeing cargo plane. It also deployed shelter repair materials including 1,000 galvanized iron sheets and tarpaulin sheets, communications equipment, hygiene kits, malong, blankets, surgical masks, and other relief goods totaling about 11,000 tons in the affected areas.
Two mobile storage units were also sent to Surigao City which can be used as temporary warehousing of delivered supplies and relief goods. The NDRRMC’s warehouse in Camp Aguinaldo also provided various relief items which were already shipped to Visayas and Mindanao.
Two hundred units of 15 horsepower geenrators for water refiling system will also be delivered by the Office of Civil Defense to various LGUs.
“The priorities in the next months reconstruction and repair of infrastructure damages, and there are concerned agencies for this. The NDRRMC will conduct post-disaster needs assessment,” Jalad said.
“But for the immediate request – reconstruction needs – concerned agencies can use their Quick Response Fund and maybe those who request can be given augmentation of their QRF so that they can continue with their immediate reconstruction and repair activities,” he added.