Gov’t anticipates 10M affected persons in disaster planning —OCD

In its disaster preparation efforts, the government is anticipating that over 10% of the country’s over a hundred million population would be affected by extreme weather conditions and natural calamities, according to the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD).

“Dahil hindi pa tapos yung pagtugon natin doon sa mga naunang bagyo tuloy tuloy itong papasok na bagyong Pepito karagdagan lang sa ongoing operations natin kaya sa kabuuan kung gagawin natin total numbers were are preparing for 10 million affected individuals,” OCD Executive Director Ariel Nepomuceno said a The Saturday News Forum.

“So kailangan ganun ‘yung pagpaplano natin kasi doon din magbabase kung gaano karami yung halimbawa yung family food packs, hygiene kits, medical kits,” he said.

The OCD official was asked how many people will be affected by Typhoon Pepito, which was projected to make landfall over Catanduanes on Saturday evening or Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, Signal No. 4 was raised over Catanduanes and part of northeastern Camarines Sur as tropical cyclone Pepito intensified into a super typhoon on Saturday. 

“Ngayon for the appreciation of everyone ilan ba ‘yung kakayanan natin sa buong bansa from the uniformed services. Ibig sabhin from the Army, PAF, Navy, including PCG at BFP. Sa kabuuan yung tinatawag nating SRR teams sa buong bansa meron tayong 1,282 SRR (search, rescue, and retrieval) teams. Sa kabuuan niyan meron tayong for this 13,857 personnel dedicated dito sa ating sunod sunod na bagyo,” Nepomuceno said.

In its 11 a.m. bulletin, PAGASA said Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal (TCWS) No. 4 was raised over the following areas:

• Catanduanes
• northeastern portion of Camarines Sur (Garchitorena, Presentacion, Caramoan, Lagonoy, San Jose)

Signal No. 4 has typhoon-force winds with speed of 118 to 184 kph, posing significant to severe threats to life and property.

Due to  Pepito, intense to torrential (> 200 mm) rains will be experienced on Saturday up to Sunday noon over the following areas: Catanduanes, Camarines Sur, and Camarines Norte.

Further, heavy to intense (100 - 200 mm) rains were expected over Albay, Quezon, Northern Samar and Eastern Samar.

Moderate to heavy (50 - 100 mm) rains will be over Sorsogon, Samar, Leyte, Biliran, and Masbate.

—VAL, GMA Integrated News