The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC VI) chaired by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) has placed Western Visayas on standby protocol due to the Low Pressure Area inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) and another LPA outside the PAR line.
This means that the region has ‘No to very low risk’ of impact based on the findings of the Pre-Disaster Risk Assessment (PDRA) Analyst Group presented by Melissa Banias, Chief of OCD VI Operations Section in a PDRA meeting Wednesday afternoon, April 6, an OCD press release said.
Banias said under the standby emergency preparedness and response protocol (EPR), regional and local DRRM councils must continually send warnings and advisories, prepare standby lists of trained and available rapid deployment teams, prepare inventory of resources, and monitor and prepare for untoward incident escalation.
Members of the council together with the city and provincial DRRM councils in the region convened at 2 p.m. Wednesday led by Ma. Aletha A. Nogra, officer-in-charge of OCD VI, to gather updates on the necessary preparations for the two LPAs.
Each Provincial and City DRRM officers presented their preparedness measures during the meeting and assured to continuously monitor their respective areas of responsibility, the press release said.
Based on the weather forecast presentation of PAGASA-Iloilo, at 10 a.m. Wednesday, the LPA inside PAR is in the vicinity of Baganga, Davao Oriental. It still has low likelihood of developing into a tropical cyclone and forecasted to move slowly stationary over Visayas to Southern Luzon areas, the press release said.
On the other hand, the other LPA outside PAR is forecasted to enter PAR with high likelihood of developing into a Tropical Cyclone. This will be the first typhoon to enter PAR in 2022 with local name “Agaton.”
As of Wednesday no gale warning has been hoisted over Western Visayas but, PAGASA-Iloilo advised the public, especially those residing near the shoreline, to remain vigilant while fisherfolk are advised to refrain from venturing into fishing for their safety.
Engr. Mae Magarzo, chief of the Geosciences Division of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB VI), said 363 barangays in Western Visayas are identified to be susceptible to rainfall and landslide based on the Rainfall Accumulation Forecast released at 2 a.m. Wednesday.
A total of 259 of these barangays are in Capiz, 70 in loilo province and 34 in Negros Occidental.
MGB VI recommended monitoring of moderate slopes to avoid repeated flooding in coastal areas and flash flood areas, the monitoring quarry/mining areas, clearing of waterways, and the temporary stop of caving activities.*