Dinagat lawmaker evacuates with thousands of residents

MANILA, Philippines – Evacuation by example.

This was what Dinagat Islands Representative Kaka Bag-ao did to help convince the people in her coastal village who refused to move to safer ground before Typhoon Basyang made landfall Friday night, January 31.

According to the Dinagat Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), it successfully moved at least 11,352 people from low-lying areas to about 90 evacuation centers in 7 towns. The result? Zero casualty in the island province.

“We are thankful that there is no casualty in Dinagat Islands. The PDRRMC was well-prepared. We had to evacuate last night to show our constituents that no one in the danger areas are exempted,” Bag-ao told Rappler.

The PDRRMC ordered evacuation in the coastal villages at 5pm on Friday, January 31, the day Dinagat islands and other provinces were put under storm signal number 2.

According to Bag-ao, some of her constituents were reluctant to heed the PDRRMC’s order until the waves started to swell and strong rain began to fall at 7 pm.

The cooperation of the people and the preparedness of responsible government agencies are essential to effective disaster response, Bag-ao said.

Center of the storm

In the neighboring province of Surigao del Norte, the mayor of Del Carmen on the island of Siargao also reported zero casualty.

The center of the storm was located in the vicinity of Siargao Island, according to the state weather bureau PAGASA.

Mayor Alfredo Coro said there were reported flashfloods in his town due to heavy rain but no casualty has been reported. 

No deaths caused by natural disaster have been reported in Del Carmen in the past 3 years, Coro told Rappler. 

The mayor said this was partly due to the effectiveness of the local government’s forced evacuation policy.

Before the typhoon struck, at least 200 families were evacuated in the town center alone. The town also observed curfew between from 4pm of January 31 to 2 am of February 1 to keep the people safe in their houses or evacuation centers.

But Coro expressed concern over the typhoon’s impact on local livelihood and economy. According to the mayor, incessant rain since December has been destroying rice fields and killing livestock worth P100 million. – Rappler.com