Makati mayor calls for emergency meeting ahead of 'Yolanda' landfall

MANILA, Philippines - The Makati City government on Thursday ordered the Makati Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC) to activate the city's Incident Command System (ICS) in preparation for super typhoon "Yolanda."

The state weather bureau said Yolanda (international name Haiyan) will make landfall in Eastern Samar on Friday morning. The super typhoon is also expected to affect Metro Manila.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay told MDRRMC members to immediately convene and prepare the necessary equipment, tools and resources so that no harm could befall upon the residents and damages to properties could be minimized.

“I ordered the Council members to account for the trucks, motor and amphibious vehicles, relief goods, vehicle fuel, generators and other logistical needs so that we could promptly mobilize manpower and respond to the needs of our constituents," he said.

"We could not just speculate on what typhoon Yolanda could bring to Makati, it may be another Ondoy that submerged many roads and streets in Makati. We have to take pre-emptive action so that our experience with submerged and stalled relief and response vehicles would not be repeated,” Binay added.

Taken up during the emergency meeting on Thursday were: the process to be followed in informing the public and the media on the latest developments about typhoon, announcements of the city government on related concerns, requests by the residents or barangay for response and rescue operations, pre-positioning of resources so that they could easily be deployed to affected areas, and the command post or “war room” of the council members where they would convene and plan for activities during the onset of typhoon Yolanda. The command post of the council is located at the mezzanine floor of the New Makati City Hall Building II.

Present during the emergency meeting were members of MDRRM Council from the city government, University of Makati, Ospital ng Makati, Red Cross – Makati, the Department of Interior and Local Government - Makati, Makati Bureau of Fire Protection, and Makati Philippine National Police.

The public and the barangay governments are also advised to course their requests for rescue to the Makati C3 by calling emergency 168. Makati C3 performs centralized planning of the deployment of available resources for rescue. The constituents should also inform the barangay or call Makati C3 on broken branches and electric posts, or dangling electric wires that may cause harm or injury. The public may also contact these PLDT numbers connected with emergency 168: 870-1920, 870-1923, 870-1926, 870-1929, 870-1932, 870-1935, 870-1940 and 870-1942. Inquiries may also be made through [email protected], [email protected], or the Twitter accounts @MakatiInfo and @ MakatiTraffic.

Recently, the city government completed the Communications Protocol for Emergencies Workshop to delineate communication and collaboration among the different units based on the Incident Command System. It is finalizing the Disaster Recovery Framework/ Plan which is the output of the International Recovery Platform and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) three-day workshop attended by Metro Manila local governments and varied private organizations.