#ButchoyPH: DILG recommends evacuation in landslide, flood-prone barangays

MANILA, Philippines – Following the Typhoon Butchoy (Nepartak) risk assessment conducted by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Wednesday afternoon, July 6, several towns and barangays were placed on Bravo Alert level.

As of Wednesday night, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) released a list of towns and barangays that need to take the following minimum actions under Bravo Alert based on Oplan Listo (Operation Plan Alert):

• Deploy teams for operations 
• Secure power, water supply, and communications 
• Start preemptive evacuation
• Consider forcible evacuation
• Tap the AFP, Coast Guard, and Marina for assistance 
• Prepare listing/profile of the evacuees
• Distribute relief packs and conduct mass feeding

These minimimum actions should be undertaken in the following areas in Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, and Palawan that are highly susceptible to landslides and floods.

Oplan Listo (Operation Plan Alert) uses a disaster preparedness manual that provides mayors and other local government disaster management agencies with a checklist enumerating what should be done before, during, and after typhoons.

The manual includes flowcharts that correspond to 3 phases of critical preparedness actions: Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. It also provides a checklist of minimum actions that mayors and local disaster managers are expected to undertake. 

Alpha Alert

Meanwhile, at least 10 regions had been placed under Alpha Alert as of Monday night, July 4, according to Director Allan Tabell, chief of the DILG Central Office Disaster Information Coordinating Center (CODIX).

Alpha Alert means that mayors should have at least issued necessary directives, convened Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils (LDRRMC), and prepared administrative and logical support.

The regions under Alpha Alert are the following: 

• Ilocos 
• Cordillera Administrative Region
• Cagayan Valley
• Central Luzon
• Calabarzon
• Mimaropa
• Bicol
• Western Visayas
• Negros Island
• National Capital Region

At least 107 towns in 7 regions in Luzon and Visayas that will experience 100 millimeters of rain were warned against possible floods and landslides, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Wednesday, July 6.

The 1991 Local Government Code and the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 mandate local government units to be at the frontline of emergency measures during disasters. – Rappler.com