PREEMPTIVE EVACUATION READIED IN CAGATAN VALLEY

PREEMPTIVE EVACUATION READIED IN CAGATAN VALLEY

BAYOMBONG, NUEVA VIZCAYA, OCTOBER 19, 2009 (STAR) By Charlie Lagasca - Civil defense authorities yesterday called on local government units in the region to get ready for preemptive evacuation of residents in flood- and landslide-prone areas, as typhoon “Ramil” is forecast to hit northern Luzon by Wednesday.

This developed as the Magat Dam continued to release water from its reservoir as a preventive measure against structural damage due to overflow amid the intermittent rains in the past two weeks.

Melchito Castro, Cagayan Valley director of the Office of Civil Defense, said residents in the region’s danger zones, or those traditionally hit by floods and landslides, should be evacuated to prevent “unnecessary loss of lives.”

“Our foremost objective here is zero casualty,” he added.

Unlike in other areas in northern Luzon, the region, according to Castro, avoided the loss of lives during the onslaught of typhoon “Pepeng” as the OCD and the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council carried out precautionary measures and preemptive evacuation.

Although no Pepeng-related deaths were officially monitored in Cagayan Valley, the typhoon affected some 65,000 families or at least 350,000 people in the region, especially in Cagayan and Isabela.

Cagayan Valley also suffered at least P2 billion in agricultural losses and infrastructure damage, with Cagayan the worst hit in terms of crops destroyed.

Preemptive evacuation may be carried out in northern Isabela areas, including the capital town of Ilagan as well as the municipalities of San Pablo, Cabagan, Tumauini, Gamu, Santa Maria and Delfin Albano, the cities of Cauayan and Santiago, and areas downstream of the Magat Dam, including the Mallig plains.

Some residents of the Cagayan towns of Solana, Peñablanca, Iguig, Aparri, Camalaniugan, Gonzaga, Buguey, Santa Teresita, Santa Ana, Amulung, Lasam and Gattaran, Tuguegarao City and communities along the Cagayan River may have to evacuate, too.

Flood-prone towns in Nueva Vizcaya such as Bagabag, Solano, Bayombong and Bambang as well as landslide-prone areas in the towns of Quezon, Kayapa, Santa Fe and Kasibu have also been alerted for possible preemptive evacuation.

Meanwhile, officials of the Magat Dam in Ramon, Isabela continued to release water as they wanted to maintain a maximum safe water level of 190 to 192 meters.

“We are avoiding reaching 193 meters, which is the dam’s critical level. But we are releasing water in calibrated volume to avoid floods in downstream areas,” said engineer Pelagio Gammad, manager of the Magat River Integrated Irrigation System.

Magat Dam officials said they alert local government units and residents at least three hours before any release of water.

Constructed during the Marcos administration, the 30-year-old Magat Dam, which provides irrigation to some 90,000 hectares of farmlands in Isabela and parts of Cagayan, has become silted as a result of the 1990 earthquake.

As part of the government’s long-term rehabilitation plan for the Magat Dam, its power component, which is generating a maximum of 350 megawatts, the biggest power provider in the entire Luzon grid, was sold to the Norwegian-Philippine consortium SN-Aboitiz for $550 million in 2006.

Remote Cagayan island finally receives relief aid (The Philippine Star) Updated October 19, 2009 12:00 AM

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – Almost two weeks after typhoon ”Pepeng” battered northern Luzon, residents of a remote Cagayan island finally got relief assistance yesterday, thanks to a United Nations-commissioned Russian military helicopter that transported the goods.

Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian, Cagayan Valley police director, said the UN helicopter manned by Russian pilots airlifted the relief goods for at least 450 families in Babuyan Claro, an islet of Calayan island town located across the extremely harsh Balintang Channel.

The relief assistance included blankets, kitchen utensils and toiletries, said Damian, who also heads the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council.

Damian said sorties to other remote Cagayan islands, including Fuga, were also underway, with Claveria town as staging point.

“The next flight will bring goods for some 1,200 families in Calayan proper and 451 families in Fuga. Some 500 food packs come from Malacañang, while the rest come from an American religious group called the Samaritans,” he said.

Residents of Calayan and Fuga, an island village of Aparri town, were earlier reported to be starving as their food supplies had run out and harsh weather conditions had hampered any relief operation.

Damian said the Russian military helicopter carrying 12,550 kilos of relief goods arrived in Tuguegarao City last Friday.

Calayan and Fuga are about eight hours by sea from mainland Cagayan through the Balintang Channel, where the Pacific Ocean and South China Sea meet.

Calayan has about 15,000 residents, while Fuga Island has 1,600.

President Arroyo, through Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, head of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, ordered the immediate airlifting of the relief goods to the remote areas following the arrival of the UN-chartered helicopter and additional assistance.

Calayan and Fuga residents are dependent on supplies from mainland Cagayan, which is still reeling from P2 billion in crop losses and infrastructure damage caused by Pepeng. – Charlie Lagasca

Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi

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