The Bicol Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) has raised its operations center to red alert status on Sunday night, August 24, in preparation for the possible impact of a low pressure area (LPA).
Claudio Yucot, Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-Bicol director and RDRRMC chairperson, said the region is now under “Protocol Charlie,” or high-risk level, under the emergency preparedness and response (EPR) protocols.
Yucot directed member agencies to activate their respective response clusters to ensure seamless coordination.
Among those mobilized were the Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Police Regional Office-5, and Joint Task Force Bicolandia. Their tasks range from medical response and camp coordination to law enforcement and search and rescue.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and OCD were also tapped for debris clearing, management of fatalities, and logistics.
Yucot likewise asked the Philippine Coast Guard in Bicol and local disaster councils to enforce a no-sailing policy if necessary.
The DSWD said it has prepositioned ₱177 million worth of food and non-food items across the region, including 112,499 family food packs, 12,100 ready-to-eat food packs, hygiene and kitchen kits, sleeping and family kits, and 26,600 other supplies.
DSWD Regional Director Norman Laurio assured residents that two mobile kitchens are also on standby for deployment to different ports.
As of 3 a.m. Monday, PAGASA said the LPA was spotted 365 kilometers east of Maasin City, Southern Leyte.
While it has a low chance of developing into a tropical cyclone within 24 hours, it is expected to bring cloudy skies, scattered rains, and thunderstorms over the Visayas, Bicol Region, Northern Mindanao, Caraga, and Quezon.
