BAGUIO CITY – The Cluster Committee on Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery of the CAR Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (RDRRMC) met last October 1 to discuss the formulation of the Ompong rehabilitation and recovery plan to set direction in the reconstruction and recovery from the effects caused by typhoon Ompong presided by Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery Committee Chair and NEDA-CAR Regional Director Milagros Rimando.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reports that as of September 28, typhoon Ompong affected 100,204 families with 390,819 individuals across the region with the death toll reaching 114 individuals of which 94 are in Itogon, and around 3,258 families in Itogon in need of permanent relocation.
Damage to agriculture and fisheries including irrigation reached 5.92 billion pesos while damage to infrastructure which include roads, bridges, flood control, public building, health facilities, and school buildings amounted to 3.51 billion pesos.
The Committee approved the conduct of a Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) to be led by the OCD in coordination with the concerned national government agencies and local governments. PDNA is a tool to gather, validate, and analyze data needed in the formulation of the Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan for typhoon Ompong. The plan shall cover sectors on infrastructure, social services, settlement, livelihood, and agriculture.
RDRRMC Chairperson and OCD-CAR Regional Director Ruben Carandang said evacuation centers are among the most urgent needs. He emphasized the need for provincial and municipal DRRMCs to submit lists of buildings or lots as potential evacuation sites. He shared his observation that use of evacuation centers takes weeks, “we need to locate where to place the evacuees not just schools because the education of the children will be affected”.
The Committee further agreed to submit agency and LGU damage reports including rehabilitation and recovery plans by Sunday, October 7, 2018 to NEDA and OCD for integration in the Regional Ompong Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan. The result of the PDNA together with the regional Rehabilitation and Recovery plan shall be submitted to the NDRRMC for funding.
By Marlo T. Lubguban
