More than 12,000 individuals have been forced to flee their homes due to heavy rains brought by the trough of a low pressure area (LPA) inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) disclosed Tuesday, Jan. 10.
Diego Agustin Mariano, head of OCD’s joint information center, said 815 families composed of 12,387 individuals were staying in evacuation centers in the affected regions.
More than P17 million worth of assistance have also been provided to displaced individuals in Mimaropa (Region 4B/ Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) Bicol (Region 5), Western Visayas (Region 6), Eastern Visayas (Region 8), Northern Mindanao (Region 10), Davao Region (Region 11), and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“Last week, the newly appointed OCD Administrator, Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno, went to Misamis to personally oversee the situation there and determine the needs of those affected,” Mariano said in a Laging Handa press briefing.
The LPA rains already caused P125 million worth of damage to infrastructure and P77 million worth of damage to agriculture, according to Mariano.
“To our affected countrymen, the help from the local government and national government is here,” he noted.
Mariano also encouraged local chief executives to conduct hazard mapping so they can point out what areas need to be avoided in times of calamities and where their constituents can be safely evacuated to minimize casualties.