LEGAZPI CITY, Nov. 6 - The Social Welfare and Development Office in the province of Albay has started its stock filing of food relief items specially rice which will be distributed to evacuees in case heavy rains continue to pour.
Albay Provincial Social Welfare Officer Yulanda Guanzon said that 1,000 sacks of NFA (National Food Authority) rice were released to the provincial government on Friday.
The repacking of rice and other relief food items is part of the preparation of the provincial government for possible evacuation of residents from the high risk areas due to floods and landslides.
Initially, the volunteers target 1,000 packs of relief items in preparation for another round of preemptive evacuation in case more rains pour during the remaining two (typhoon) months of the year.
Relief goods equivalent to five kilos of rice are standard packaging for emergency assistance to evacuees to encourage the residents to leave their dwelling due to threats of lahar and flood to help the province attain its zero-casualty goal.
Meanwhile, Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) Plans and Operations Division Chief Abundio V. Nuñez said that continuous rains early morning of Thursday dumped one kilometer stretch of mud, rubble, gravel and sand along the Nuyday Avenue, the portion of the main road in Camalig, Albay. "It was caused by the overflowing of a river near the Provincial Engineering Office building because it was already silted by Mayon debris," Nuñez said.
The APSEMO has fielded a monitoring team to verify other river channels along the slopes of Mayon Volcano that could cause massive lahar floods in the event of another heavy and continuous downpours.
The APSEMO official has expressed serious concern about the one in Camalig that isolates the towns of the third district
Nunez added that although the disaster preparedness mechanism is in place, a continuous rain of more than four hours is already causing these rivers to overflow and that Governor Joey Salceda might recommend for a preemptive evacuation of the residents at the affected areas in Guinobatan, Camalig, Daraga, Sto. Domingo and this city especially those living along the Mayon channels and low-lying areas of Libon, Oas and other parts of the third district of Albay.
The APSEMO recorded a 5.5-millimeter rain volume Thursday morning but fortunately the rain slowed down several times.
The initial result of the monitoring which started Thursday revealed river swelling along the Bicol river basin extending from Guinobatan to Lake Bato traversing the city of Ligao and the towns of Oas, Polangui and Libon. (PNA)