NAGA CITY (30 September) - ONE OF THE EARLIEST RELIEF DRIVE for the victims of tropical storm "Ondoy" in Metro Manila, dubbed as "Tabang kan Bicol," started in this city where some 4,000 members of the Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCI) and 10 other adjacent towns have started to appeal for food donations, clothing, other basic necessities for typhoon-victims since September 27.
MNCI president, Abet Bercasio, said the Plaza Quezon in Naga's old commercial district has become the base of the relief drive where they are accepting relief donations until October 2.
The first batch of relief goods is to be transported by six-wheeler trucks and will be brought to Rizal province and Marikina City which were hit the worst by Ondoy's floods.
Bercasio said the Naga based relief drive has been supported by at least 300 individuals, civic groups, students from Universidad de Sta. Isabel, doctors and lawyers associations, and the water district associations in Camarines Sur.
Meanwhile in Legazpi City, rescue teams of the Albay provincial disaster coordinating council, considered well-equipped and experienced rescuers after the recent Mt. Mayon eruption, have been tasked by the NDCC to help in the flood clearing operations in Metro Manila.
Albay Public Safety and Emergency Office Chief Cedric Daep said the Albay PDCC had sent rescue boats and their water purifying equipment in flood-stricken areas.
Albay officials at the PDCC also said they offered to help in the rescue and clearing operations in Metro Manila, noting the same experience of devastation brought by typhoon "Reming" in 2006 wherein some 1,500 Albayanos perished in the said catastrophic storm.