DAVAO CITY — The Office of Civil Defense 11 (OCD 11) on Saturday reported a total of PHP12 million worth of assistance provided to affected families and individuals by the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council 11 (RDRRMC 11) after a series of earthquakes hit this city, Davao Occidental and Davao del Sur province.
In a statement sent on Sunday, Manuel Luis Ochotorena, regional director of OCD 11, said the series of tremors have also caused psychological distress among affected families in the whole of Mindanao, especially to those who were directly affected.
“For the spirit of ‘bayanihan’ as what we Filipinos are known for, there are groups or individuals who donated different kinds of assistance (mostly food, water, kitchen utensils, clothes) to the earthquake-stricken areas of Davao Region and many more groups, organizations or individuals are signifying their intent to provide help in the community,” he said.
He added that significant to such response operation is a 24/7 response mechanism in the region in close coordination with the local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils (LDRRMC).
“We would like to request and remind all groups, organizations or individuals who wish to provide in-kind or cash assistance to always have direct coordination with LDRRMC to ensure that all affected communities or families will be able to receive the necessary assistance,” Ochotorena said.
He also said that all donations in Davao del Sur, the most affected province in the region, is coursed through the Provincial and Municipal DRRM Offices or Incident Command Posts (ICP) located in their respective provincial capitols or municipal halls.
“To continuously provide all the needed relief and rehabilitation efforts, all concerned RDRRMC 11 member agencies are still conducting field assessments and validation of the damages especially to those families who incurred and/or lost their houses,” he said.
He also added that the RDRRMC 11 Response Cluster was activated to efficiently and effectively provide and manage the disaster response operations in the region.
On the other hand, the Eastern Mindanao Command (EMC) expressed solidarity with key members of the DRRMC particularly OCD, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), different local government units and LDRRMC.
Lt. Col. Ezra Balagtey, spokesperson of EMC, said they recognize the importance of “the intent to have a synchronized, orderly, organized and needs-based conduct of relief operations in order to attend to the needs of the different affected communities inclusively and equitably”.
“In this regard, we are calling and appealing to those who want to help and provide relief assistance to follow the established protocol of Incident Command System as provided by RA 10121, as such, we are encouraging you to course through the established ICP in every municipality for proper accounting, deployment and monitoring,” Balagtey said.
EMC explained that such mechanism is useful to “prevent chaos in the affected communities and discourage unscrupulous individuals to carry out their individual intent by taking advantage of the situation”.
“EMC made this emphasis on orderly relief response while it appreciates the outpour of help from individuals, families, groups, companies and organizations which have provided assistance to the affected communities,” he added. (PNA)
