Albay on Alert for Typhoon Juan

LEGAZPI CITY, Oct. 15- The Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council of Albay has advised all disaster managers down to the villages to be very vigilant against lahar flash floods, mudflows, storm surges and landslides as rains brought by tropical storm Juan started to pour Friday noon.

Albay Governor Joey Salceda said "since the disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies and the respective rescue and response teams are in place, all we have to do is to pray the Oratio Imperata, a very powerful prayer, so that 'Juan' would spare the province as well as the country."

"Before Juan entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), we were notified and updated by other international agencies. But, since it entered PAR and it became tropical storm Juan, our provincial DRR policy is to exclusively use the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) weather bulletins as basis for response," Salceda added.

Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) said that "since Wednesday, the PDCC has been monitoring the evolving weather system even if preliminary track projections have central tendencies around Northern Luzon. And Governor Salceda, being the PDCC chairman, asked our people to be on alert at all times." (PNA)