DAVAO CITY — The Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) in Region 11 on Wednesday lifted its red alert status in Davao Region after Tropical Depression Agaton left the region.
During the AFP-PNP Press Corps media briefing, OCD 11 regional director Leoncio Cirunay bared the region now is on white alert since its national office told his office that all tropical cyclone warning signals have been removed.
Cirunay said there were three municipalities in Davao Region that were affected by Agaton causing displacement of 170 families and 850 individuals.
Among the municipalities are Laak, Maco and Nabuntuan were affected by Agaton. “These are all part of Compostela Valley Province,” he said.
Of the total displaced families, 90 were from Barangay Limot in the town of Laak, 18 from Nueva Visayas in Maco, 25 in Barangay Basak, and 37 in Barangay Magsaysay both in the town of Nabunturan. Of the total displaced individuals, 450 came from Barangay Limot in Laak, 90 from Barangay Nueva Visayas in Maco and there were 125 in Barangay Basak while 185 in Barangay both in the town of Nabunturan.
Cirunay said evacuees already went home after they stayed in the evacuation centers for couple of nights.
He reported no casualty brought by Agaton since the Local Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils (LDRRMC) of the three towns immediately made pre-emptive evacuation.
Cirunay lauded the people who made self-evacuation after the issuance of the warning during Agaton because this simply means that they already learned from the past.
“We saw the positive response on our call because they immediately evacuated although we did not really (feel) the presence of Agaton,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cirunay also bared his office recorded 69,000 evacuees in the region since the Severe Tropical Storm Vinta.
“We also recorded damage(d) houses in which 225 were partially damaged while 386 were totally damaged,” he said.
The damage on agriculture has also reached to P230 million.
Cirunay said Vinta only left one casualty as reported by officials Asuncion town in Davao del Norte.
“Hopefully, next time, we will record zero casualty,” he said. (Armando Fenequito Jr/PNA)
