President Benigno S. Aquino III has ordered the release of the Department of Social Welfare & Development’s Core Housing Assistance amounting to P4.19 million for families in ten towns and cities in Negros Oriental whose homes were damaged by Tropical Storm Sendong.
In a meeting of the National Disaster Coordinating Council at the arrival lounge of the Dumaguete-Sibulan airport Tuesday, the President also directed government line agencies to speed up their disaster-relief operations for areas affected by the storm.
Each family whose home was partially damaged is eligible to get assistance worth Php 5,000 while families whose homes were totally damaged could get Php 70,000, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said.
However, Soliman said that the cash assistance will be given on condition that the victims to not move back to the riverbanks.
The President expressed surprise that people were allowed to live on dry river beds or “as close as one meter from the river”, warning that Negros Oriental is one of 66 areas nationwide which has been identified as disaster-prone. “The question is when the disaster will strike this area.”
He challenged local government officials of Negros Oriental to fine-tune their disaster-reduction initiatives in the wake of the said forecasts.
“The Visayas will have increased rainfall due to changing weather patterns. You have to start fine-tuning your systems with the ultimate goal of zero casualties,” the President said.
He said this would be a test of the local executives’ political will, especially if they dangle their votes before politicians during elections.
The President also called the attention of local officials to the need to study the weather forecasts, particularly the rainfall projections of Pag-asa.
“Anything above 7.5mm of rainfall is considered heavy,” Aquino said, noting that the forecast for Sendong was 10-25 mm of rainfall.
Data gathered from the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) during Saturday’s storm said the rainfall measured 107.1 mm as of 10 a.m.
“I was told that it was one month’s amount of rain which fell over Negros Oriental in two hours,” Gov. Roel Degamo told the President.
Infrastructure damage in Negros Oriental reached Php 388.5 million while damage to agriculture stood at Php 37 million according to reports gathered by the Negros Oriental Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Managment Council as of Tuesday morning.
A total of 10,420 families were affected by the storm with 37 dead and 247 injured, mostly residents of swollen riverbanks who either drowned or were swept away but raging currents. Affected were the cities of Dumaguete and Tanjay and the municipalities of Mabinay, Pamplona, Amlan, San Jose, Sibulan, Valencia, Bacong and Siaton.
The DSWD has also released a total of Php 2.2 million worth of relief goods to the disaster-stricken areas.
President Aquino directed the DPWH to assist in the repair of local roads and expedite the repair of damaged bridge approaches.