The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) was placed on red alert status as severe tropical storm “Carina” continues to intensify while enhancing the effects of southwest monsoon (habagat).
Red alert mandates all NDRRMC personnel to be on duty 24/7 so they could respond to any eventuality amid the bad weather.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD), the executive arm of NDRRMC, led an inter-agency meeting involving the different agencies under the NDRRMC to discuss the government’s preparation to address the impact of the two weather systems.
“Patuloy na nagdadala ng mga pag-uulan ang habagat at bagyong Carina kung kaya’t muling pinaaalalahan ang mga residente ng mga apektadong lugar na mag-ingat, maging alerto, at sumunod sa mga abiso ng awtoridad dahil sa posibleng pagbaha at pagguho ng lupa (Habagat and Carina continue to bring rains so residents in affected areas are advised to take precaution, be alert, and follow the advisories from authorities sue to possible flooding and landslides),” the OCD said on Monday, July 22.
The OCD assured that the regional DRRMCs in the affected areas were implementing emergency preparedness and response (EPR) protocols to ensure the safety of the public.
Meanwhile, a total of 852,765 individuals (177,068 families) have already been affected by the combined effects of habagat and tropical depression “Butchoy” as of Monday.
Of this, around 582,000 individuals (117,000 families) were displaced by massive flooding and devastating landslides across Mimaropa (Region 4B), Western Visayas (Region 6), Central Visayas (Region 7), Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9), Northern Mindanao (Region 10), Davao (Region 11), Soccsksargen (Region 12), Caraga (Region 13), and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
A total of 149 houses were either partially damaged or totally destroyed in the affected areas.
The damage to agriculture rose to P8.75 million while infrastructure loss remained at P700,000.
Another meeting of the NDRRMC Response Cluster was scheduled to coordinate the government’s response to Carina and habagat’s impact to the country.
Butchoy left the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on July 20, the same day that Carina intensified into a tropical storm.
As of 11 a.m. Monday, Carina was last monitored at 340 km east northeast of Casiguran, Aurora.