PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — About 8,000 family food packs were sent Saturday morning to southern Palawan municipalities expected to be hit by Tropical Storm Vinta.
Palawan Governor Jose Alvarez ordered the delivery Friday morning following a meeting with members of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (PDRRM) Council, said Provincial Information Officer Gil Acosta Jr.
The governor also ordered PDRRM Office officer-in-charge Cruzalde Ablaña to borrow chainsaws from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff.
“The family food packs will be delivered by Rescue 165 and PDRRMO using big trucks. The chainsaws, on the other hand, can help clear access roads of tree rubble so first responders won’t be burdened by delays in case they need to answer to emergency calls and deliver the relief goods,” he said.
At the City Hall in Puerto Princesa, Mayor Lucilo Bayron, who chaired the meeting of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), ordered Friday the activation of emergency operation centers, including in the barangays.
CDRRMO chief Earl Timbancaya said this is to achieve regular tropical cyclone track and projections monitoring, ensure reliable communication system and uniformity, having Standby Incident Management Team, wide dissemination of official warnings, ensure operational readiness of response clusters, preposition of food and non-food relief items, and others.
In its 2 p.m. bulletin on Saturday, the state weather bureau said “Vinta” was moving 20 km. per hour (kph) westward toward southern Palawan. Its center was located 245 km. south-southeast of Puerto Princesa City, or 245 km. west of Balabac, with maximum sustained winds of 80 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 95 kph.
As of this posting, signal no. 2 had been hoisted over the towns of Rizal, Brooke’s Point, Balabac, and Bataraza, and signal no. 1 over Puerto Princesa City, Aborlan, Narra, Sofronio Española, and Quezon. (PNA)
