PRO8 provides support to “Pablo” victims

By RPCRD, Police Regional Office 8
January 3, 2013

CAMP RUPERTO K. KANGLEON, Palo, Leyte – Policemen and Non-Uniformed Personnel of Police Regional Office 8 (PRO8) poured in their resources to donate relief goods to disaster stricken towns of Baganga, Cateel and Boston in Davao Oriental.

The PRO8 coordinated with the Office of the Civil Defense 8 (OCD8) and came up with relief goods - 138 sacks of used clothing, 910 pieces of assorted canned goods, 36 bars of laundry soap, bath soaps, 2 sacks of rice, sanitary napkins, assorted medicines and cash amounting to P108,000.00.

“As we observed in the news, it’s a heartrending sight. We have to hasten the distribution of basic supplies to towns flattened by the typhoon,” Police Chief Superintendent Elmer Ragadio Soria, PRO 8 Regional Director said.

A disaster response team led by Director Rey Gozon of the Office of Civil Defense left early morning yesterday on board a DPWH service vehicle loaded with the relief goods to assist in the Relief Operations and Information Management from January 2 to 8.

Typhoon “Pablo” survivors bypassed the Yuletide season as they hole up in evacuation centers and continue to bury their dead, at least 1,067 have been confirmed, and more than 800 still missing, about half of the number fishermen who ventured out to sea before the 16th cyclone of the season struck and now feared dead, reports from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said.

The council said the typhoon affected 710,224 families composed of 6,203,826 people and rendered 300,000 people homeless.

Pablo (international name: “Bopha”) slammed into eastern Mindanao on December 4 and wreak havoc with monster winds gusting up to 200 kilometers per hour, causing flash floods and landslides, flattening communities and banana plantations, and prompting President Benigno Aquino to declare a state of national calamity.

“We’re still lucky that even tough Eastern Visayas was also hit by “Pablo”, the damage was only minimal compared to the widespread devastation suffered by our brothers in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental,” Soria added.

The region was also hit by typhoon “Quinta” last week while the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) reported that at 2:00 AM today, the Low Pressure Area (LPA) was estimated just down under the region in the vicinity of Sta. Josefa, Agusan Del Sur in CARAGA region.

“Our policemen, especially members of Search and Rescue (SAR) teams would be available for disaster response operations,” the police regional director assured.