As soon as she returned to office Thursday November 21, Cotabato Governor-elect Nancy A. Catamco immediately convened different clusters that are involved in the disaster response operations relative to the 4 strong earthquakes which hit the province last month.
Led by Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Manager Mercedita C. Foronda, the Governor was informed of the various actions taken or disaster response operations conducted by the EOC in collaboration with various government agencies and the Local Government Units (LGUs) to assist severely affected families. Other response clusters such as Health, Food and Non-Food, and Education also presented their respective reports to the governor.
In her briefing, Foronda presented the various activities conducted by the EOC in making sure that the province is still on top of the situation despite the fact on how big and challenging the task was. She also stressed the collaborative efforts of the whole EOC including the Incident Management Teams (IMT) in the different LGUs and the overwhelming help from various government institutions, non-government organizations, other provinces and LGUs, as well as private sectors and individuals.
Foronda also reported that the province is now on its rehabilitation and recovery phase. This presents a challenge on the collection and verification of data of affected families or individuals. She said, data submitted by the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils (LDRRMCs) of affected municipalities are constantly changing and the EOC team have been deployed in different areas to assess and validate victims and damages and to identify appropriate interventions which will form part of the Recovery and Rehabilitation Plan for earthquake affected areas in Cotabato.
Based on the PDRRM consolidated report as of the briefing, out of the 48,337 affected families or 241,685 estimated individuals, 9,960 are inside the total 88 evacuation centers while 37,519 are homebased.
Homebased but not deprived of help
Hearing concerns on the congestion of evacuation centers, among others, Governor Catamco declared that people must be encouraged to be in their homes but they should not be deprived of help the government is giving to the victims.
“If it is possible, if location of their houses are safe, people must be encourage to return to their homes but, they will not be deprived of assistance. This way, we will be able to decongest our evacuation centers especially in schools because those classrooms are also needed by our learners.”
Issues on health, hygiene, and privacy are also among the primary concerns in the evacuation centers mentioned during the briefing.
Catamco also stressed it is important that people are self-sufficient in times of calamities. She said barangay officials must be capacitated in disaster preparedness and response to ensure that in any eventualities immediate and proper response is given.
The governor grateful to everyone who has worked relentlessly for the betterment of the people especially during the recent crisis brought by the series of earthquakes which struck the province. She said that with the great task in our shoulders, “I hope that you will give the same dedication to your jobs and usual support to me as your governor as we will be working together as one for all Cotabateños.”
Cotabato Province was hit by 3 strong earthquakes last October 16, 29, and 31, 2019 that claimed 21 lives, injured many others, and left 19,083 and 17,030 partially and totally damaged houses according to PDRRM report and multi-million worth of other infrastructures.// lqg-idcd//
