After multiple landslides occurred in Leyte due to tropical storm "Agaton", the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) sent a search and rescue team on Monday, April 11, to Barangay Ga-as, Baybay City.
PRC said two assessment teams from their chapter in Leyte, together with the search and rescue team, the ambulance team, and the welfare services team left for Baybay City and Abuyog town on April 11.
Floating assets, such as a rescue boat, were dispatched by the chapter for a water search and rescue operation in the municipality of Abuyog.
In coordination with the Baybay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office,
Moreover, the PRC sent its food trucks to prepare and distribute hot meals in an evacuation center, distributing hot meals to 88 individuals in Barangay Curva and to 53 individuals in Barangay Danhug evacuation centers in Ormoc City.
The humanitarian organization also gave hot meals in Barangay Lamak, Hilongos and to stranded passengers and evacuees in Liloan, San Ricardo, and Pintuyan towns in Southern Leyte.
Meanwhile, the PRC Ormoc City Chapter was ordered to stand ready to assist the Leyte Chapter in the operations in Baybay.
PRC Eastern Samar Chapter, on the other hand, has sent an assessment team to Jipapad and Guiuan towns.
“Sa ganitong panahon, kahit na hindi super typhoon ang Agaton ay hindi tayo nagpapabaya. Palaging nakahanda ang Red Cross para rumesponde sa ating mga kababayan sa oras ng sakuna (During these difficult times, even though Agaton is not a super typhoon, there is no let down in our response. Red Cross is always ready to respond to our kababayans during a disaster),” the PRC Chairman Richard “Dick” Gordon said.