ILOILO City – The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Western Visayas urged the public to be prepared for typhoons.
The third and fourth quarters of the year are considered the “typhoon season” for Region 6, said Ma. Aletha Nogra, officer-in-charge of OCD-6.
“We should be vigilant of incoming typhoons because we really experience them during this time,” she said.
The OCD-6 is particularly focused on the western section of Panay Island, noting that typhoon “Frank” (international name: “Fengshen”) hit the region in June 21, 2008 and devastated the area.
“Frank” brought with it incessant rains that caused massive flooding in large swathes of Panay. In Iloilo province, 59 were reported killed and 40 missing. In Iloilo City, thousands of people were forced onto rooftops.
Nogra said all the local disaster risk reduction management councils (LDRRMCs) in the region should intensify their information and education campaign since they have already identified high-risk areas in their respective jurisdictions.
She said the public should be well-informed of when they need to evacuate, where are the identified evacuation centers located, as well as the things they need to bring during evacuation.
“Our authority is to facilitate to ensure that there is at least zero casualty,” she said. “We should be resilient and we should strengthen our preparedness, prevention, and mitigation measures to overcome the challenges.” (PNA)
