Ramon leaves thousands of evacuees in Iloilo and Capiz

ILOILO CITY, Philippine s — Tropical cyclone "Ramon" may not have caused major damage in properties and infrastructures in Iloilo and other provinces in Western Visayas but it left thousands of families in evacuation centers.

Police Regional Office-6 director Sr. Supt. Cipriano Querol, Jr., said that, as of yesterday noon, his office has not received report on major damage caused by the weather disturbance but there were families that were evacuated especially in the northern parts of Iloilo and Capiz provinces that were hit by flash floods.

A report from the Office of the Civil Defense-6 said that in Iloilo, only the town of Estancia was affected by the typhoon as seven barangays were hit by flash floods. Four houses were also reported damaged and 65 families, or 325 individuals, were evacuated to Estancia Elementary School. All in all, a total of 328 families, or 1,546 individuals, were affected in those barangays.

The local government unit of Estancia, Philippine Red Cross and other concerned organizations have already extended relief assistance in the form of food packs, medicines and used clothing to the evacuees.

The OCD-6 also reported that a total of 77 barangays were affected by the flooding with 2,153 families, or 6,821 persons, affected. At least 128 families or 2,640 individuals were evacuated in two evacuation centers in Roxas City.

In Roxas City, there were seven affected barangays, two in Ivisan town, and one each in President Roxas, Maayon, Sigma, and Sapian towns. There were also two totally damaged houses and one injured person.

"Aside from the mentioned areas, we received no other damage report," said Ma. Aletha Nogra, civil defense officer of the OCD-6.

Twenty-five-year-old Jorel Apaitan, of barangay Balaring in Ivisan was reportedly injured after he was struck by lightning while two houses were damaged in the town of President Roxas due to flash floods caused by the typhoon.

In a press conference yesterday morning, Querol said he received reports that most of the displaced families, except those whose houses were damaged, have already returned to their homes after the flooding has subsided in their areas.

PAGASA has placed Panay Island, comprising Iloilo, Capiz, Antique and Aklan provinces, Guimaras Island and northern Negros Occidental under storm signal number one on Wednesday.

All local government units and concerned government agencies were in full alert for the possible devastation that the weather disturbance may bring. Classes from pre-school, elementary and high school schools in Iloilo province and most parts of the region were also suspended.

Querol said they no longer deployed their Search and Rescue battalion after they observed that the typhoon was not destructive.

The OCD 6 however said the provincial and city disaster risk reduction management councils in the different parts of the region are continuously monitoring their areas of responsibility for any eventualities.

Despite no heavy rainfall happened during most of the day in Iloilo City and some parts of Western Visayas, classes for pre-schoolers and grade school pupils were suspended.

Capiz Governor Victor Tanco, Sr. ordered on Tuesday the suspension of classes for elementary and secondary students, as pre-emptive measure, especially for flood-stricken towns there.

Tanco also put on stand by several trucks in case of evacuation, and assured the public of enough rice supply from the NFA, and potable water.

The DSWD-6 had identified 4,013 public institutions in the region (e.g. schools, chapels/churches, gyms, Day Care Centers) as evacuation centers, if necessary.

There were 387 in Aklan; 529 in Antique; 521 in Capiz; 114 in Guimaras, 1,257 in Iloilo; and 1,205 in Negros Occidental. The agency has also stockpiled 2,285 family packs and made available 1,000 sacks of rice from NFA, standby fund of P500,000; and alerted quick response teams composed of 471 volunteers. (FREEMAN)