Electricity back in areas hit by typhoon

THE government has committed to restore electricity in areas hit by Typhoon

Pablo (international codename: Bopha) before Christmas Day.

Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla on Monday said that power in majority of the areas hit by the recent typhoon has been restored already.

He said that if there would be places that would not have power by December 25, these would be far-flung areas that are difficult to reach.

Even so, Petilla gave assurances that those areas would be provided with generator sets.

He explained that the government

would initially provide electricity to those areas until power is completely restored by private electric generators.

Meanwhile, Education officials said that classes in areas ravaged by the typhoon, particularly in the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, will resume in January.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro has already issued an order mandating the resumption of classes on January 3 after the Christmas break.

In areas where classrooms were destroyed, the Department of Education plans to set up tents that will serve as temporary learning areas.

Data from the Education department showed that at least 877 classrooms were destroyed or washed out by the rampaging floodwaters and strong winds brought by Pablo.

Toll climbs

The death toll caused by the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year has reached 1,043. Disaster officials said Pablo may soon exceed Typhoon Sendong’s (international codename: Washi) death toll of 1,257 and the damage it caused.

Search and rescue teams are still searching for 844 others who are still missing.

Pablo has totally wiped out a number of municipalities in the provinces of Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley, while Sendong, on the other hand, caused havoc mainly in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

Figures from the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council on Monday showed that

Pablo’s damaged P24.16- billion worth of crops and infrastructure, almost 24 times more than Sen

dong’s P1.399 billion. Cost of assistance for the affected families reached P171.8 million.

The Department of Social and Welfare Development has allocated P82.91 million; local government units, P45.85 million; Department of Health, P26.10 million; nongovernment organizations/other government organizations, P13.4 million; and the Risk Reduction council, P3.51 million.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has also pledged to assist the rehabilitation program for workers in the typhoon-hit areas.

This was confirmed on Monday by Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda, who said that President Benigno Aquino 3rd has already discussed with ILO Director General Guy Ryder the organization’s offer of support.

The organization has set aside an initial funding of $50,000 (P2 million) to jumpstart a livelihood program in collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Labor and Employment.

According to ILO’s Country Office for the Philippines, about 2.3 million workers have been directly affected as of December 14. It also reported that majority of affected workers were in the Davao region, where the impact has taken toll on the livelihoods of 767,000 agricultural and fishery workers.