72K FAMILIES AFFECTED

OCD-Davao reports that affected families come from 282 barangays in Davao

AROUND 72,000 families in Davao Region were affected by the trough of the Low-Pressure Area (LPA), an official from the Office of the Civil Defense-Davao Region (OCD-Davao) said.

Ednar Dayanghirang, regional director of OCD-Davao, said that the affected families come from the 282 barangays in the region. Of that number, 12,978 families are still in the 183 evacuation centers across the region while 6,428 families have already returned to their homes.

“We are in a difficult situation particularly ang mga Dabawenyo nga nagpuyo sa Davao Oriental. Davao de Oro, ug Davao del Norte and in Davao City,” Dayanghirang said during the Kapehan sa PIA on Friday morning, February 2, 2024.

He added that among all the provinces in the region, Davao del Norte’s lowlands are heavily affected, specifically the Municipality of Carmen since it became a catch basin of all the floodwater in Tagum City.

He, however, highlighted that compared to the previous calamities, the number of the affected population, injuries, and casualties this time was minimal. He attributed the decrease to the cooperation of the people by listening to the mandate of the government agencies – from purok, barangay, municipal, provincial, and national leaders.

Previously, the region was impacted by the shear line and around 600,000 individuals were affected by the heavy flooding and landslide.

Based on the Rainfall Advisory No. 2 of the OCD-Davao that was issued at 1 p.m. on Friday, it states that there will be moderate rains in Davao Oriental, Agusan del Sur, Misamis Oriental, and Zamboanga del Sur.

“The public and the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices concerned are advised to monitor the weather condition and watch for the next advisory to be issued at 4 p.m. today,” OCD-Davao said in their post.

OCD-Davao intends to conduct a region-wide flooding and landslide dialogue this month to discuss local flooding and landslide issues at the regional level and national leaders will be involved in how to solve these issues per municipality.