LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – The Bicol Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) is on red alert status due to possible effects of tropical cyclone “Egay.”
Gremil Naz, Office of the Civil Defense (OCD)-Bicol spokesperson, said all disaster response agencies in the region were placed by OCD-Bicol chief Claudio Yucot under red alert effective noon on Friday, July 21, following a regional pre-disaster risk assessment meeting the day before where preparedness actions by national government agencies were discussed.
Response agencies activated during the meeting – Department of Health (DOH)-Bicol for health cluster; Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Bicol for food and non-food items; camp coordination and camp management and protection clusters; Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT)-Southern Luzon Cluster for emergency telecommunications cluster;
Police Regional Office-5 for law and order cluster; OCD-Bicol for logistics cluster; Joint Task Force Bicolandia for search, rescue, and retrieval (SRR) cluster; Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Bicol for debris clearing cluster, and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Bicol for management of the dead and missing (MDM) cluster.
Naz said that localized assessment will be followed in Albay since the province is experiencing "complex disaster" due to the Mayon unrest and possible lahar flow.
In Santo Domingo, Albay, 300 more families will be evacuated from Barangay San Isidro due to lahar threat.
Engr. Edgar Balidoy, municipal planning and development coordinator and Mayon Volcano eruption operations center head, said evacuees are living near Basud gully but outside the danger zone of Mayon Volcano.
They will be taken to designated evacuation centers.
Balidoy also said that evacuees who constructed shanties for temporary shelter will be brought to school buildings.
Santo Domingo has at least 1,500 families or more than 5,000 individuals evacuated due to Mayon Volcano.