Despite the light damage sustained by Southern
Luzon during the onslaught of "Ruby", military units
tasked to secure this area vowed to improve their preparations further.
This was stressed by Southern Luzon Command chief Major Gen.
Ricardo Visaya Wednesday.
"The preparation and coordination spared countless
lives and prevented considerable damages to infrastructures in Bicol and
Southern Tagalog Regions from the wrath of Typhoon 'Ruby'. But for the Southern
Luzon Command, there is more to improve for the next typhoon or natural
calamity," he added.
Sorsogon and Masbate experienced the strongest winds of Ruby
in Southern Luzon .
Though the Provincial government of Masbate declared a state
of calamity in the province, Masbate only had
seven slightly injured constituents hurt by falling debris while Sorsogon had
zero casualty.
Col. Cesar M. Idio, 903rd Infantry Brigade commander, said
preemptive and forced evacuation in Sorsogon especially in coastal areas saved
lives from storm surges and high waves.
In Bulusan town, three- to five-meter high storm surges
washed away nine houses morning of Dec. 7.
“Disaster response units (DRUs) with the Philippine National
Police and other partner agencies conducted information dissemination to
coastal barangays using loud speakers,” Idio said.
“It is very effective and can be considered as one of the
best practices in preparation for a typhoon,” he said.
Albay and Catanduanes achieved zero casualty with very minor
damages but DRUs of the 901st Infantry Brigade are still assisting in the
decampment of evacuation centers and in the distribution of relief goods.
Col. Raul Farnacio, 901st Infantry Brigade commander, said
the PDRRMCs (provincial disaster risk reduction management councils) of Albay
and Catanduanes are very active and are personally presided by their respective
governors.
“The driving force is the active presence of the governors.
Support from the DRRMCs (disaster risk reduction management council and other
agencies are added factors,” Farnacio said.
“Cluster approach of all agencies is a good template in a
response plan,” he added.
Farnacio added that the collaboration of all uniformed units
with disaster response operations (DRO) capabilities is likewise significant to
determining what hazards they are fitted to respond.
In Mindoro, DRUs were deployed to all municipalities and Calapan City
203rd Infantry Brigade commander, Col. Mariano Antonio Perez
Jr., said that no DRO was conducted due to the change of path of “Ruby.”
“We felt the 'Bayanihan' spirit during the preparations for
the supposed landfall of Typhoon “Ruby” in Calapan City
In Laguna, the 202nd Infantry Brigade used military radios
in transmitting reports and updates from the military camps and DRUs to PDRRMC.
202nd Infantry Brigade deputy commander Col. Leoncio
Cirunay, Jr., considers the use of military radios as a good practice.
“We learned from 'Yolanda' where all cell sites went down,”
he said.
“With Typhoon 'Ruby' weakening when it passed by Laguna, we
saw it as an opportunity to train our troops use our Harris radios in HADR
(humanitarian assistance disaster response) operations,” he added.
In Quezon province, Governor David C. Suarez commended the
active participation and effective DRO of the 201st Infantry Brigade during the
deactivation of the PDRRMC.
"A lot of best practices were seen and can be
duplicated for future natural calamities," Visaya said.
"We have nowhere to go but to improve our HADR
operations, inter-agency coordination and coordination among our units,” he
added.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=714843
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