TUGUEGARAO CITY -- The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has shipped construction materials which are due to arrive in Itbayat town in Batanes in a couple of days, to be used for rebuilding houses damaged by earthquakes last July 27.
The transport may take days, according to the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD).
Ronald Villa, OCD-Cagayan Valley operations in-charge, told the Philippine News Agency in an interview on Wednesday that they have been waiting for official words from the NDRRMC on the status of the delivery "as the shipping is being taken care of by the national DRRMC headquarters".
However, Villa said they have provided for the immediate needs of the earthquake victims such as relief goods and personal kits. They have also sent tents that are now being used by 90 families as temporary shelters and 180 boxes of 10-liter bottles of distilled water.
"We provide their immediate needs such as for their food, shelter and safety," he said.
Villa added the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) has airlifted 258 family food packs aside from the 140 food packs from Quirino Province.
Two generator sets were brought by the Cagayan Electric Cooperative while two water purifiers by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of Isabela.
Meanwhile, a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ship, loaded with relief goods, also departed from Santa Ana in Cagayan to bring relief goods to Itbayat.
The OCD has recorded several deliveries of relief goods either by plane or by ship to help the 911 families or 2,963 people affected.
Nine people died and 64 were injured in the tremors last Saturday.
The OCD said that out of those affected, 805 families or 2,616 people have been staying under tents and makeshift houses at the public market and the open plaza in Barangay San Rafael.
Two major earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.4 and 5.9 shook Itbayat at 4:16 and 7:37, respectively, in the morning of July 27.
But seismologists have recorded a total of 299 aftershocks, 47 of which were plotted and 21 were felt, with magnitude ranging from 2.2 to 5.9 magnitude and Intensity of 3 to 7, the OCD-2 added. (PNA)
