President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. gave his marching orders on Thursday, July 28, to all government agencies to strengthen their response to the impact of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday.
Marcos visited Abra province on Thursday to personally witness the extent of the quake damage and to hand over assistance to affected sectors. He also spearheaded a situation briefing along with other officials.
According to Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Erwin Tulfo, a total of 4,969 families or 20,000 individuals were affected by the earthquake that jolted Luzon.
A total of 2,312 families were already brought to evacuation centers, while 413 families chose to evacuate in other places or reside with their relatives.
At least 349 houses were totally damaged, with the tally expected to expand as authorities submit reports.
Marcos said government agencies shall continue distributing relief and rescue assistance. He also ordered for the allocation of sufficient supply of clean water, stable line of communication, and power supply and damaged road and bridge restoration.
National government agencies were instructed to ensure full coordination with local government units to avoid service delivery interruption.
“Mga national government agencies, lahat ng gagawin ninyo, please coordinate closely with the local government units para mamaximize ang inyong assets. Di kayo nagkukulang, di kayo nag-uulit,” Marcos said.
Meanwhile, Senator Imee Marcos suggested strengthening the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council’s operation. This was supported by the Chief Executive.
“May I recommend, by way of another Imee-solusyon, rather full scale department na mauubos lang ang budget sa sahod ng limang Usec., sangkatutak na Asec, can we start by NDRRMC authority or administration, tulad ni Apo Lakay, ‘yung DBM nag-umpisa bilang komisyon,” she said. –Report from Mela Lesmoras/KC-ag
