ILOILO CITY (OCD 6) -- The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) 6 chaired by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) 6 has placed this region 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 a "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 recent PDRA meeting.
According to Banias, under the standby emergency preparedness and response protocol (EPR), regional and local DRRM councils must continually send warnings and advisories, prepare a standby list of trained and available rapid deployment teams, prepare an 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 2:00 PM Wednesday led by Ma. Aletha A. Nogra, officer-in-charge of the OCD VI to gather updates on the necessary preparations for the two LPAs.
Each Provincial and City DRRM officer presented their preparedness measures during the meeting and assured to continuously monitor their respective areas of responsibility.
Based on the weather forecast presentation of PAGASA-Iloilo, at 10:00 AM today, the LPA inside PAR is in the vicinity of Baganga, Davao Oriental. It still has a low likelihood of developing into a tropical cyclone and is forecasted to move slowly stationary over the Visayas to Southern Luzon areas.
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 this year 2022 with local name “Agaton.”
As of today, no gale warning has been hoisted over Western Visayas but, PAGASA-Iloilo advised the public, especially those residing near the shoreline are advised to remain vigilant while fisherfolks are advised to refrain from venturing into fishing for their safety.
According to Engr. Mae Magarzo, chief of the Geosciences Division of the Mines
and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 6, a total of 363 barangays in Western Visayas are identified to be susceptible to rainfall and landslide based on the Rainfall Accumulation Forecast released at 2:00 AM, April 6, 2022. A total of 259 of these barangays are in the Province of Capiz; 70 in the province of Iloilo; and 34 in the province of Negros Occidental.
MGB 6 recommended monitoring of moderate slopes to avoid repeated flooding in coastal areas and flash flood areas as well as the quarry/mining areas, clearing waterways, and temporary stop of caving activities.
Nogra reiterated among the provincial and city DRRM councils to submit their preparedness measures to the RDRRMC 6 24/7 Operations Center for consolidation and reference.
The RDRRMC 6 will convene for another PDRA meeting as needed. (FRG/PIA6/OCD6 Story and Photos)
