6,000 evacuees but no casualty report

By BEN SERRANO
and NITZ ARANCON
Correspondents

BUTUAN City–Over 6,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes to seek refuge on higher grounds as continuous rains brought by a tropical depression that weakened into a low pressure area during its landfall threatened low-lying villages across Caraga.

Disaster risk reduction management officials however the number of evacuees were relatively minimal. There was no casualty report.

In Northern Mindanao, the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) lauded local governments for a “zero casualty” feat on Saturday, the day the state weather bureau forecast “heavy and intense rain.”

The OCD in Caraga said it initially listed some 6,581 evacuees in different parts of the region on Saturday. The list includes the people who responded to calls for preemptive evacuation hours before tropical depression Onyok’s landfall.

The irony is, the heavy rains in many parts of Caraga came after the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) downgraded Onyok from tropical depression to LPA.

OCD director for Caraga Manuel Luis Ochotorena said the bad weather also stranded some 924 passengers at the Lipata Wharf in Surigao City. The Coast Guard prohibited sea travel to and from seaports of Surigao to Liloan and San Ricardo ports in Southern Leyte.

In Agusan del Norte, some 60 people fled their homes due floodings in Santiago when Lake Mainit, the second largest lake in the country, swelled.

In San Josefa, Agusan del Sur, 208 people evacuated to higher grounds in barangays Poblacion, Awao, Aurora and Angas-Dao.

Floodwaters in Sitio Pitogo, Barangay Maribojoc, San Benito town, Surigao del Norte, also forced some 118 people to flee their homes.

The biggest evacuation took place in Surigao del Sur where the OCD recorded some 4,694 evacuees in the coastal towns of Marihatag, Hinatuan, Lingig and Cagwait.

In the Dinagat islands, some 519 people fled homes in the villages of San Jose, the capital town of the island province.

In Region 10, the OCD lauded efforts by local governments, particularly in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental, to prevent casualties.

OCD director for northern Mindanao Ana Cañeda congratulated local officials and disaster risk reduction management groups for the “zero casualty” feat as of Saturday afternoon, hours after the worst of the rainy weather was expected.

Allan Porcadilla, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office chief, “Nalipay lagi si Director Cañeda kay si ‘Onyok’ wala gyud maka-knockout sa atong disaster preparation sa Cagayan de Oro hangtud nga nahimo nalang siya nga low pressure.”

By 3 pm on Saturday, Porcadilla ordered disaster risk reduction management personnel to go “back to barracks” but monitorings continued.

Porcadilla said there was no report on casualty, flooding or landslide during the crucial hours on Saturday, and later in the day, Mayor Oscar Moreno directed most of the team members to go home so theu could spend the weekend with their families.

He said nine families were evacuated in Macasandig, and six others in Carmen on Friday afternoon as a precaution, and they returned to their homes by 11 pm after Pagasa downgraded ‘Onyok.’

In Misamis Oriental, there were no reports on casualties, flooding or landslide on Saturday, too, according to Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office chief Fernando Dy.

Dy said there were 52 families who were evacuated to safer grounds in Barangay San Jose, Talisayan, Misamis Oriental as a precaution on Friday afternoon.

He said disaster risk reduction management office personnel were ordered by Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano to stay in the capitol until the skies cleared.