BAGUIO CITY(PIA) - - Relief assistance and disaster response actions continue for the province of Abra which is hit hardly by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that rocked Luzon at 8:43AM on July 27, 2022 with epicenter in Tayum, Abra.

The national government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development – Cordillera (DSWD – CAR), already provided P21.59 million worth of food and non-food items for the province, and around 45,130 Family Food Packs are being delivered for prepositioning and augmentation. The DSWD is also providing burial assistance and financial assistance to injured individuals through its Assistance in Crisis Situation (AICS) program and those whose houses were partially or totally damaged through its Emergency Shelter Assistance program.

Data from the DSWD – CAR show that Abra,  which is the most affected area in Cordillera, has 70,677 families or 259,951 individuals affected from all the 27 municipalities in the province. There were five deaths and 272 injured. About 282 houses were totally damaged while 21,081 were partially damaged.

To augment the assistance from other national line agencies, private organizations, and  humanitarian groups,  the Office of Civil Defense also delivered non – food items that include 1,500 boxes of hygiene kits, 24,072 bottled drinking water, 26,980reusable face mask, 4,204 bottles of Alcohol, 250pieces of COVID-19 Antigen Test kits , 219 family packs, 1,000 malong, 600 pieces of tarpaulin mats and 1,500 blankets.

As the lead agency of the logistics cluster of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, OCD - CAR is also continuously providing logistics support for the RDRRMC response cluster activities  that include provision of gasoline for the delivery of relief assistance to the province.

The Cordillera RDRRMC through the different sub – groups of council’s response cluster are also bringing in their respective interventions to address the concerns on health and food safety, telecommunications, road access, price control and stability and food security, among others. Intermittent aftershocks continue to be felt in Abra, and surrounding areas.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,  who  visited the province on July 28, directed national and regional line agencies to closely coordinate with the affected local government  for  immediate and  efficient response.

Meanwhile, Cordillera RDRRMC Chairperson and OCD – CAR Director Albert Mogol convened and presided an emergency full council meeting Friday  to look into updates and to harmonize all government operations in the province of Abra.

Mogol advised local government units and local DRRM councils in the region to continue damage and risk assessments in their respective area of responsibility and implement early warning systems and public information dissemination in earthquake - affected areas.

He also reminded the implementation of pre-emptive evacuations, if deemed necessary, in areas that are highly susceptible to landslide and flashflood as the country is under the “Habagat” or Southwest monsoon season. (JDP/CCD-PIA CAR)