The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) have coordinated with the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to help evacuate residents in Batangas who were displaced by Taal Volcano’s eruption, officials disclosed on Wednesday, March 30.
Lt. Gen. Erickson Gloria, AFP vice chief of staff, said there were 968 personnel who were dedicated to assist in humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) operations in areas that were affected by Taal’s continuing unrest.
Aside from this, there were 28 military land assets and four rubber boats that were prepositioned in Calabarzon (Region 4A) as well as four air assets composed of three S70i Black Hawk utility helicopter and one Huey utility helicopter that were on standby status.
The AFP General Headquarters also placed the Southern Luzon Command (SolCom) under an HADR red alert status and activated the Joint Task Group (JTG) Taal “in order to synchronize the efforts of AFP units involved in HADR operations.”
“The AFP will continue to coordinate with OCD-4A and local DRRMOs for HADR ops and monitor the Phivolcs bulletins for possible augmentation of forces in case the situation escalates,” Gloria stated during the pre-recorded Talk to the People address of President Duterte.
Meanwhile, Admiral Artemio Abu, PCG commandant, said the PCG District Southern Tagalog was immediately placed on a heightened alert and Task Force Taal was activated when the volcano first erupted and was placed under Alert Level 3 last March 26.
“The Taal Volcano is surrounded by water. Amin pong ipinapaabot sa ating Pangulo na ang inyong Coast Guard ay nandoon noong magdeclare ang Phivolcs ng Alert Level 3 (We would like to inform our President that your Coast Guard was deployed on the ground when Phivolcs declared an AlertLevel 3),” Abu said.
The PCG Chief said that the evacuation efforts were ongoing in the high-risk barangays to ensure the safety of the residents.
Latest available data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) showed that a total of 1,539 families or 5,688 individuals were displaced by Taal’s eruption as of 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Of this number, a total of 1,142 families or 3,771 individuals were staying in 17 evacuation centers in Batangas while 265 families or 1,203 individuals chose to stay with their relatives or friends’ houses.