PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — Relief operations of the provincial government for nearly 3,000 reported flood-affected families in the northern Palawan town of El Nido continue even after heavy rains due to the southwest monsoon has stopped.
The relief operations are being carried out by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) and the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) in coordination with the municipal government of El Nido in 16 barangays that were flooded seven days ago.
Rebecca Federico, social welfare officer IV of the PSWDO, said Friday they have sent 300 augmentation food packs to the flooded town last week, containing 10 kilos of rice, cans of sardines, corned beef, mineral water, coffee, and chocolate drinks for children.
“Augmentation lang naman ang sa amin kasi mayroon naman ng pre-positioned food pack sa El Nido. Ang ipapadala na lang relief items like damit (Ours was only augmentation support because El Nido has pre-positioned food packs. What we will send are relief items like clothes),” Federico said.
She said they will be sending nine bags of used clothing donated by concerned citizens and 17 boxes of assorted food items from a Swedish tourist who recently visited El Nido.
Meanwhile, El Nido Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO) chief Raymund Osorio said they are monitoring areas in landslide-prone barangays.
“Binabantayan talaga namin ngayon iyong mga areas na nagkaka-landslide, saturated na kasi masyado ang mga lupa namin dito sa El Nido dahil kabi-kabila ang construction (What we are closely monitoring are areas that are prone to landslides because our grounds are really saturated due to left and right constructions),” he said.
Osorio added that building contractors in the town have been volunteering to help them in conducting “clearings” once they receive reports of trees falling or landslides brought by non-stop rains. (Celeste Anna Formoso/PNA)
