NDRRMC activates response protocols as Betty onset looms

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has activated its emergency preparedness and response (EPR) protocols in preparation for Typhoon Betty's onslaught.

Civil Defense Administrator and NDRRMC Executive Director Ariel Nepomuceno said that the council is coordinating with various agencies to ensure that all necessary measures are in place from the national down to the local level.

“We have already identified and activated appropriate emergency preparedness and response protocols in different regions to be affected by the weather disturbance,” he said in a statement.

The EPR protocols are sets of actions that must be undertaken by concerned government agencies and local government units before the onslaught of the storm and during response operations.

A total of 1,679 teams from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) are on standby for possible search, rescue, and retrieval operations, according to the NDRRMC.

As of 11 a.m., PAGASA said the following areas in Luzon have remained under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal (TCWS) No. 1 even as Betty decelerated while moving westward over the Philippine Sea:

• Batanes;
• Cagayan including Babuyan Islands;
• Isabel;
• Apayao;
• Ilocos Norte;
• the northern and central portions of Abra (Tineg, Lacub, Lagayan, San Juan, Lagangilang, Licuan-Baay, Malibcong, Danglas, La Paz, Dolores, Tayum, Bucay, Sallapadan, Daguioman, Bucloc, Boliney);
• Kalinga;
• the eastern and central portions of Mountain Province (Sadanga, Barlig, Natonin, Paracelis, Bontoc);
• the eastern and central portions of Ifugao (Mayoyao, Aguinaldo, Alfonso Lista, Banaue, Hingyon, Lagawe, Lamut, Kiangan, Asipulo);
• the northern and central portions of Aurora (Dilasag, Casiguran, Dinalungan, Dipaculao);
• Quirino; and
• northeastern portion of Nueva Vizcaya (Kasibu, Quezon, Solano, Bagabag, Diadi, Villaverde, Bayombong, Ambaguio).

—LBG, GMA Integrated News